In the drilling and cementing of oil and gas wells, additives are crucial. Many distinct oil and gas well activities have led to the development of numerous mud and cement additives. The proper additive must be chosen and applied in the proper amount to create the ideal mud for every drilling operation and cement slurry for any cementing activity. Different additives serve various purposes. To investigate the impacts of periwinkle and oyster shells as drilling mud and oil well cement as additives, laboratory tests were carried out in this study. After pulverization of the oyster and periwinkle shell samples to particle sizes of 125µm and 250µm, they were used as additives for formulating sixteen samples of water-based mud and oil well cement. The formulated mud and cement samples were subjected to rheological, pH, filtrate loss, and cement setting tests, as well as consistency and cement slurry tests that closely complied with API recommendations. The rheological test's outcomes show that the mud’s rheological characteristics declined as their particle sizes varied. The pH of these mud samples increased as their concentration increased, and their filtrate volumes decreased. Additionally, a decrease in cement curing time was seen when the additives' concentration was increased. The findings suggest that additives in mud formulation and cement slurry operate as an accelerator for the cement slurry and that the amount of additive employed has an impact on the mud's rheological properties, pH, density, and filtration qualities. Therefore, using these shells as additives rather than traditional ones can be more cost-effective because it will cut down on overall drilling operations and minimize environmental damage.
Emmanuel Ime Udo Akpan (Fri,) studied this question.