Paper Details

Abstract: The aim of any drilling operation is to provide a path way or conduit from surface to depth of interest whichwould later facilitate the production of the formation fluids. In order to achieve this, petroleum drilling engineers doincorporate the best of drilling practices in which drilling time is a critical factor. Drilling cost is directly proportionalto time spent on drilling the well and as such any parameter that would drastically increase the drill cost is criticallyanalyzed with the view of getting the optimum conditions for such parameter. Rate of penetration have been known toaffect drill cost significantly. In order to optimized the rate of penetration and minimized torque during drilling, thehole must be adequately cleared of drill cuttings. The hole cleaning properties of the drilling fluid are essential toachieving the set objectives. Drilling fluids play important roles in any drilling operations. These roles are not limitedto controlling formation pressures and lifting of drill cuttings to the surface but also as a means of providing hydraulichorsepower for downhole tools. Lifting and transporting of drill cuttings to the surface lies on, but not solely on therheological properties of the drilling mud in used but also on the mud pump pressure exerted at the surface. The pumppressure which provides the circulating density of the mud is such that it is equivalent to the formation pressure.Above this pressure, the formation tends to fracture and formation fracturing is not a good development during anydrilling operation. Hematite has been used as an additive to mitigate against formation pressures successfully,especially when combined with the conventional weighting agent such as barite, calcium carbonate, etc. Barite (withspecific gravity between 4.2 – 4.8 g/cm3) is the most popular of the weighting agents due to its ecofriendly nature. It has been used severally to control the mud weight of drilling mud during weighting up process. This weighting upprocess usually have significant effect on the equivalent circulating density (ECD) which in turn affect the cuttingsremoval process, hence poor hole cleaning and resultant increase in torque. Besides the increase in demand of bariteand its global reserves reduction, there is need to look at other alternatives such as hematite, ilmenite, calcite, etc.Hematite with a specific gravity of 4.7 g/cm is a good weighting agent in water base mud because it provides high value of mud density with low solid content when compared with equivalent volume of barite.

Engr. NEMINEBOR, GIFT PEPE, “EFFECT OF HEMATITE ON YIELD POINT OF WATER BASE MUD”, International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development (IJAERD), Vol. 10, Issue 7, pp. 1-10, July 2023.