For different purpose and demand, various types of mud systems have been applied for drilling operation in petroleum industry with the main two types of water based and oil based mud. However, these two types of mud have their own defect and limitation. Since most of the formations are hydrophilic or even water sensitive, there will be many problems raised due to water sensitivity by using water base mud, such as mud creation in formation, formation collapse and formation pollution etc. in order to solve these problems, there comes oil based mud, but OBM has its own problems as well, such as high cost, high pollution and safety issue etc. Therefore, a new type of mud system has been under research, and after a long experiment and practice, some mud companies have begun to use a new mud system based on ester derivative substance(C12-18), named as ester based mud. It is synthesized from plant oil, no toxicity and degradable, and can replace the mineral oil contained in OBM.

Physic Properties