INVESTIGATING THE RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF SUSPECTED LOCAL CLAY IN DILLING MUD

ABSTRACT

The importance and roles played by drilling mud in drilling operations cannot be over stated. Drilling mud from sedimentary bentonitic clay which is imported in most cases. This project work is aimed at investigating the rheological properties of suspected local clay for oil well drilling, and comparing it with that of the imported bentonitic clay from Bariod NL, a company that supplies drilling fluid materials based in warri, Delta state. The local clay was mined from Konton-karfi in Lokoja town of Kogi State. And the experiment was run in Petroleum Laboratory, Ugbowo Campus, University of Benin, Benin City. The two samples were subjected to the same condition in accordance with the API standard and their response were recorded respectively and compared to determine the difference between them, and from that comparison, the suitability of the local clay was determined. The properties of the muds from each of the clay samples that were looked into include the following: Mud weight, Apparent viscosity, Plastic viscosity and Yield point. From the study, the local clay was to be about 50% accepted compared to the imported clay.