BENEFICIATION OF NIGERIA LOCAL CLAY TO MEET API STANDARD SPECIFICATION FOR DRILLING FLUID FORMULATION. (A CASE STUDY OF ABBI CLAY DEPOSIT, DELTA STATE)

Abstract

Prior to the government’s initiative to develop local content, the cost of importation of Bentonite for drilling activities in Nigeria runs to millions of dollar annually which has been detrimental to the economy of the country considering that about 5 to 15% of the cost of drilling a well which ranges between $1 million to $100 million accounts for drilling fluids .Therefore, it is imperative to locally outsource these clay materials in order to conserve foreign exchange, create employment and to enhance Nigerian content development in the drilling component of oil and gas industry. The objective of this study is to investigate the rheological properties of local clay from Abbi town of Delta State, Nigeria, in other to ascertain its substitutability for foreign (Bentonite) clay. This research work was carried out by analysing the in-situ properties of the local mud sample and beneficiating it with 1.0g of potash and the result was compared with imported Bentonite using the API (American Petroleum Institute) specifications. It was established from analysis of Abbi local mud sample that the parameters such as the sand percentage composition, power law index, density, marsh funnel viscosity, etc of the local mud met the minimum required specifications, while other few rheological properties such as viscosity was seen to be slightly below the standard requirement of 30cp and pH of the local mud fell below the standard range of 9.5 to 12.5 and therefore needed some additive treatment for favourable comparison with the foreign clay mud properties. This study will enable the performance of Nigerian clay to be benchmarked against the imported Bentonite and also ascertain that the utilization of this clay for any industrial application will pose no harm to surface and surface facilities and will in turn represent a value added to the Nigeria’s economy by the total prevention of the importation of high quality activated foreign Bentonite clay.