Characterization and Testing of Saudi Barite for Potential Use in Drilling Operations

• Main Authors: Musaed N.J. Al-Awad, Ahmad O. Al-Qasabi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2001-01-01
• Series: Journal of King Saud University: Engineering Sciences
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1018363918307384

There are huge drilling operations in most areas of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nowadays searching for potential hydrocarbon reservoirs. While drilling for oil and gas, formations of high pore fluid pressure may be encountered (up to 20 ppg equivalent). Normal drilling fluid can control formation pressure up to 10 to 12 ppg. Therefore, it is necessary to increase mud pressure to correct this imbalance, otherwise a blowout may occurs. Barite is preferred upon the other weighting materials for its low price, purity, availability and its non-toxicity. Barite expenditure is estimated to be one half of the total mud cost. The expenses of importing barite from outside the area, necessitate the testing of local sources of barite which are cheap to utilize and are abundantly available. Therefore, samples of barite deposits were collected from Rabiqh area in the Western Province of Saudi Arabia. The collected samples were investigated for mineralogy, chemical analysis, physical properties, water requirement and its effect on common water-based drilling mud properties. For comparison, commercial barite was as well tested for the same properties. Based on the analysis performed in this study, it was found that the local barite is identical to commercially available one. Therefore, it is recommended to perform an economical feasibility study for the utilization of this local mineral.