Application of Nano-Particles of Clay to Improve Drilling Fluid

Drilling fluids are an essential component of the rotary drilling process used to drill for oil and gas on land and offshore environments. The injection of this nano particle into drilling fluid increases the viscosity levels fluids. In these experiments, the rheological properties of the fluid including apparent viscosity (AV), plastic viscosity (PV), yielding point (YP), mud cake thickness and fluid loss (FL) were studied before and after the addition of the nanoclay with different concentrations. In this study, nano particles of clay were used in order to enhance the rheological properties of drilling fluids. The results showed nanoclay controls the fluid loss and is resistant to high temperatures and also fluid loss. We also found that nanoparticles varying in concentration (0.1 to 1 Wt %) and also size 1, 50 and 500 nm are shown to be effective at improving fluid rheology.