<p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;">Few days back, I took this clay and drilling mud project and finally I successfully completed the research project and it was entitled <i>“Enhancement and Improvement of Local Clays in Uyo Local Government Area (LGA) for Drilling Mud Formulation.”</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/drrz8xekm/image/upload/v1579326514/wxorupyv9ryzfychgbml.jpg" data-filename="wxorupyv9ryzfychgbml" style="width: 100%; float: none;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><i>Own Image: Clay Samples Preparation</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">In order to minimize the rate by which Nigeria oil and gas companies import foreign bentonite for the purpose of successful drilling of wells, for oil and gas extractions, local clays were taken from Afaha Oku and Efiat Offot. These local clays were used in formulating two different drilling muds.</span><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><i>Study
Area<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><i>The
locations (Afaha Oku and Efiat Offot) were local clays were being obtained from
are both villages in Uyo Local Government Area (L.G.A). On the other hand, Uyo
LGA is one of the Local Government Areas and the capital of Akwa Ibom State.
The city is vast with a land space of about one hundred and forty square miles.
According to Wikipedia, Akwa Ibom is situated in the coastal southern part of
Nigeria.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">The properties of
the local clays such as density, filtrate volume and ph were experimentally
determined. In furtherance, the properties of the local clay muds were being
tested for suitability via comparing their properties with those of the standard
American Petroleum Institute (API) bentonite.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">Now, from
the comparison, it was crystal clear that the local clays were not fitting for
drilling fluid formulation in their naturally occurrence state, as they were
found to possess very low and bad gel strength, plastic viscosity, yield point and
apparent viscosity (rheological properties) as well as other properties such as
pH and density. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><o:p><br></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><o:p><br></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">This is due
to the fact that the Afaha Oku and Efiat Offot clays lacked the capacity to
swell as there was no attraction between the clay and water in the formulated
drilling fluid. More so, this scenario with the formulated drilling mud using
the local clays could also be attributed to the low presence of sodium cations
in the local clay deposits.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/drrz8xekm/image/upload/v1579327319/aoui3votuhgtcmrydl1k.jpg" data-filename="aoui3votuhgtcmrydl1k" style="width: 527.5px;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.4667px;"><i>Own Image: Filter Press Set-up for Filtrate Volume Measurement</i></span></p><div><br></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%">However, in Petroleum
Engineering, the process of making a low-quality clay to improve in its properties
and performance as pertaining to drilling mud formulation is termed <b>“beneficiation”</b>.
In all cases, beneficiation is done by the addition of relevant chemicals and
additives. In this case, the Afaha Oku and Efiat Offot clays (local clays) were
being beneficiated by the addition of barite, carboxyl methylcellulose and soda
ash in considerable concentrations to the local clays.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><o:p><br></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%"><o:p><br></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Worthy of note is that upon
beneficiation at a concentration of 42.9g carboxyl methylcellulose, 10g soda
ash and 10g barite to 350mL of the local clays, the yield point, apparent
viscosity and plastic viscosity of the Efiat Offot clay mud improved
drastically. Also, the yield point, plastic viscosity and apparent viscosity of
Afaha Oku clay mud increased in their respective percentages. The pH of the
local muds also increased at a concentration of 10g of soda ash to 350mL of the
local clay mud. Furthermore, the results for the filtrate volume revealed that
the Efiat Offot and Afaha Oku mud improved at large percentages. Therefore, the
local clays showed good properties when compared with bentonite upon
beneficiation. This then implies that there are chances of formulating a good
drilling mud from the obtained local clays.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><b><i>Results of the research work and their
discussions will be published in my subsequent posts. I hope you check back!!</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:
Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p>



























</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; "><b>References<br></b></p><ul></ul>[Suitability of Using Agbarha Clay for Drilling Mud Formulation in Oil and Gas Industry](http://jsaer.com/download/vol-5-iss-3-2018/JSAER2018-05-03-359-365.pdf)</p><p>http://www.ijesmjournal.com/issues%20PDF%20file/Archive-2015/JUlY-SEPTEMBER-2015/3.pdf
<p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">[ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE OF UBAKALA CLAY FOR USE AS DRILLING MUD.](http://futospace.futo.edu.ng/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/1445/Igwe.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">[Formulation of water-based drilling fluid using local materials](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292877234_Formulation_of_waterbased_drilling_fluid_using_local_materials)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">[Properties and application of Nigerian bentonite clay deposits for drilling mud formulation: Recent advances and future prospects](http://jsaer.com/download/vol-5-iss-3-2018/JSAER2018-05-03-359-365.pdf)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">[EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LOCAL CLAY FROM EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR BENTONITE IN DRILLING FLUIDS](https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Evaluation-of-the-Effectiveness-of-Local-Clay-from-Ebonyi-State-Nigeria-as-a-Substitute-for-Bentonite-in-Drilling-Fluids.pdf)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/12564/1/1-s2.0-S0169131717301102-main.pdf</p></p>