The American Petroleum Institute (API) earlier this year granted an initial approval to modify its API drilling grade standard for barytes used in drilling fluids.
In the coming months, Task Group TG08 WG03 of the API is expected to formally vote on the issue and, according to Bill Miles, of Miles Industrial Research, Denver, USA, this is expected to be a mere formality.
With its relatively high specific gravity of >4 SG, barytes is used as the vital weighting agent in drilling fluids for oil and gas wells.
Pressure from consumers and barytes producers, in particular US drilling fluids and barytes producer MI SWACO, to force the API to modify its standard (min. 4.2 SG) to a lower density grade (min. 4.1 SG) has been driven by a shortage of 4.2 SG barytes available from deposits in Nevada, the USA’s primary barytes producing region.