Improving the Rheological Properties of Water Based Mud with Moringa oleifera Leaves

This paper aimed at improving the water-based drilling mud using Moringa oleifera (M. Oleifera) plant leaves. The rheological properties (plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), and gel strength) of the mud were measured using standard procedures. The mud weight was not affected by M. oleifera concentration (10.03-10.63 pounds per gallon (ppg)). pH of the formulated mud decreased by 28% with increasing concentration of the M. oleifera leaves. The highest PV (33cP) was recorded by mud with 1% M. oleifera leaves at 50ºC while the least value (22cP) was given by control mud at 70ºC temperature. Highest YP (57 1b/100ft2) was recorded by mud sample with 4% concentration of M. oleifera leaves while 1% gave the lowest YP value of 91b/100ft2 at 30ºC and 49ºC respectively. Gel strength at 10 seconds showed improvement with 2% concentration of leaves by recording maximum of 5 1 b/100 ft2 at 70ºC while the lowest gel strength was recorded by 1% leaves concentration at 49ºC. A good gel strength (30.21 b/100 ft2) at 10 minutes was recorded by mud sample with 3% leaves of M. oleifera at temperature of 30ºC. The results indicated that the M. oleifera leaves significantly improved the rheological properties of the mud. It was also observed that the mud weight of formulated muds with M. oleifera leaves were not affected which leads to stability of the wellbore if the formulation is used. These great result calls for the need to use M. oleifera leaves to improve rheological properties of the drilling mud. An investigation of M. oleifera as fluid loss control should be done as well as need to carry out isolation and characterization of the active ingredients from M. oleifera leaves so as to establish the compound (s) associated with its activity in drilling mud.