Barite

The oil and gas industry is the primary user of barite worldwide. There it is used as a weighting agent in drilling mud. Almost main produced barite used as a weighting agent in drilling muds. These high-density muds are pumped down the drill stem, exit through the cutting bit and return back to the surface between the drill stem and the wall of the well. This flow of fluid does two things:

It cools the drill bit.

The high-density barite mud suspends the rock cuttings produced by the drill and carries them up to the surface.

Primarily for mud rotary drilling, barite increases mud density while maintaining low solids to help control formation pressures.

Barium sulfate

Barite (barium sulfate: BaSO4) is a soft, dense (4.1 – 4.5 g/cm3) natural mineral used as a weighting agent in drilling muds of all types. Drilling mud barite is least 92 weight % pure, have a specific gravity greater than 4.2 g/cm3. Mineral impurities in barite include silica, iron oxide, limestone, and dolomite, as well as several metals, mostly in the form of metal sulfides. Low trace metal barite is available in the U.S. for drilling muds used and discharged offshore.

Advantage :

 • High specific gravity; raises drilling fluid density with minimum solids

 • Controls formation pressure, stabilizes the borehole

 • Cost-effective, non-toxic, and chemically inert

 • Helps increase mud density up to 21 lb/gal (2516 kg/m3)

 • Helps control formation pressures

 • Helps stabilize the borehole

 • Helps prepare solids-laden plugs for well control applications