Many people probably
recall seeing an old movie showing an oil gusher. When the drill bit breaches
the high pressure zone containing hydrocarbons, the oil travels up the well at
a very high rate, forcing out the drill string and creating a gusher that
shoots 200 feet or higher into the air. The oilmen, happy upon discovering
their new-found wealth, are joyfully splashing about in the oil. Of course, the
Hollywood reality is quite far removed from the reality as this gusher, more
properly known as a blowout, typically was fatal to the workers involved in the
drilling as flying wreckage crushed or severed oilmen in two. Those that
weren’t killed or injured close to the drilling rig often lost their hearing
due to the loudness of the explosive concussion from the well. The
environmental damage due to blowouts typically was quite profound; thousands of
barrels of oil would end up wasted on the landscape. As a metal structure
shredded or electrical equipment of the drilling rig was compromised, sparks
that occur during the blowout easily led to explosions and fires that were
usually very difficult to extinguish.
Such was a common
hazard in the oil and gas industry in the late 1800s to early 1900s, till the
roll-out of the first commercial blowout preventer in 1926. A blowout preventer
(BOP) is a mechanical device placed at the top of the well just under the floor
of the drilling rig. The BOP consists of mechanical rams which constrict flow
and increase pressure back into the well to constrain a potential blowout. In
modern oil and gas drilling, catastrophic blowouts have become rare although
they do still happen.
The most famous
blowout in recent history is the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred
in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010. In that case, high pressure methane gas
expanded into the drilling riser and then rose into the drilling rig where it
ignited and exploded, engulfing the entire offshore platform in flames and
killing 11 workers. A report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board released June
5, 2014, detailed what many already suspected shortly after the disaster
occurred: a faulty blowout preventer and bad management led to the disaster.
Blowout preventers
are actually the last-ditch prevention device. The very first line of defense
against a blowout is what’s known as the drilling fluid, also called drilling
mud. As the well is drilled, the drilling mud is pumped down the drill string
to the drill bit at the bottom and returns up the well-bore in the space, or
annulus, between the outside of the drill pipe and the casing, or the
larger-diameter pipes, that line and protect the well. The column of drilling
fluid being pumped down, which would be a mile or more, has considerable weight
and exerts a tremendous downward hydrostatic pressure in the well. At the
bottom, where there is no casing, the circular tubing through which the well
drilled, the hydrostatic pressure provides an “overbalance” of pressure that
exceeds the natural pressure of the reservoir into which the well is drilled.
The overbalance of pressure prevents oil and gas fluids from entering and
coming up the well bore. The most common weighting material in the drilling mud
is barite.
Drilling mud also
provides other important properties for the drilling operation, such as the
lubrication, support and cooling of the drill bit and drilling assembly, and
suspension, release and removal of cuttings from the well.
Roughly 85% of the
global barite market is employed for drilling mud in the oil and gas industry
and this trend is expected to continue and grow as the recent fracking boom
continues.
Mabwe Minerals,
which owns the mineral and metals rights to the Dodge Mine in Zimbabwe, is
emerging as a huge commercial source of high grade barite. Mabwe Minerals has
in place a 3 million ton supplier agreement with Baker Hughes, one of the
world’s largest oilfield services multinational corporations with operations in
more than 90 countries. Beyond that Mabwe Minerals has a very significant
network of barite customers which will support the future of their mining and
logistics operations.
For more information
visit www.mabweminerals.com
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