Fluid Additives

Alkalinity Control Agents
Control of the pH of various drilling muds is easy with alkalinity control agents available through Kensel Smith. Our agents help control the pH in water-based, oil-based, and synthetic-based muds using soda ash, lime, potassium hydroxide, caustic soda, or bicarbonate of soda.

 

Borehole, Shale Stabilizers
Drilling practices and the physical & chemical properties of drilling fluids can either enhance or erode borehole stability. Our borehole stabilizers that help operators avoid the difficult and expensive tasks associated with remediating an unstable formation.

 

Corrosion Control
Preventative treatment can help avoid the expense of corrosion-induced failures of drillstrings or casings. We offer proven corrosion-control treatments that mitigate the corrosive qualities of drilling and completion fluids and other factors affecting the downhole environment.

 

Degreasers, Wetting Agents
Our degreasers and wetting agents clean everything from casings to surface equipment while meeting environmental standards. Our degreasers penetrate oily film allowing it to be washed away, while our wetting agents effectively displace diesel-, mineral oil-, and synthetic-based drilling fluids.

 

Emulsifiers
Kensel Smith provides emulsifiers that effectively promote stability by reducing the interfacial tension between water and oil. Emulsion fluids are offered in two varieties: either oil-in-water, categorized as direct or water-based; or water-in-oil, known as invert emulsion.

 

Filtrate Control Agents
Kensel Smith produces polymer and non-polymer fluids that serve as filtrate control agents to manage filtration rates and reduce filter cake permeability. These effective agents control the four basic mechanisms that affect filtration, including bridging, bonding, deflocculation, and viscosity.

 

Lost Circulation Materials
Kensel Smith knows how to keep costs associated with lost circulation from spinning out of control. Our solutions give operators effective ways to respond to complete or partial lost circulation prompted by hydrostatic or annular pressure loss from natural or induced causes.

 

Lubricants
Friction can be controlled with Kensel Smith s liquid lubricants that reduce the coefficient of friction between pipe and wellbore. Our lubricants include polymers that effectively adhere to pipe surfaces and lessen adhesion between pipe and mud solids.

 

Non-Emulsifiers
Baroid’s non-emulsifiers work vigorously to prevent negative emulsions from occurring downhole and clogging the wellbore. By preventing these negative reactions, you are left with maximum wellbore productivity, and enhanced wellbore production after cleanup.

 

ROP Enhancers
Rate of penetration (ROP) is a key metric of drilling performance. Kensel Smith offers enhancers that minimize friction and reduce bit balling, clay sticking and other downhole aggravations that can quickly turn a good ROP into a potential problem.

 

Spotting Fluids
Operators know they are working against time when differential sticking stops their drill pipe. By applying our spotting fluids within six hours of an occurrence, the drill team stands a fighting chance of seeing the fluids penetrate the filter cake to break it up – thereby freeing the pipe.

 

Sweeping Agents
Kensel Smith offers two viscosities of sweeping agents to help operators effectively remove cuttings from the wellbore. Turbulence associated with low viscosity sweeps stirs the cuttings bed, and high viscosity fluids «sweep» the solids to the surface.

 

Thinners, Deflocculants
Kensel Smith offers thinners and deflocculants that help maintain rheological properties amid hostile environments. Thinning agents help reduce viscosity or prevent flocculation, and deflocculants are typically low-molecular weight anionic polymers that neutralize positive charges.

 

Viscosifiers, Suspending Agents
Operators can adjust the properties of their fluids systems by employing our viscosifiers and suspending agents. These products let drilling teams respond to downhole conditions by altering rheological properties of their drilling fluids or enhancing the low-shear viscosities being employed.

 

Weighting Agents
Weighting agents let operators alter slurry density to restrain high formation pressures and improve mud displacement. Weighting agents also play important roles in preventing strength retrogression, decreasing cement-system permeability and helping to control settling and gelation.