Feasibility Study of using Oil Palm Trunk Waste Fiber as Fluid Loss Control Agent and Lost Circulation Material in Drilling Mud

Abstract

An investigation was conducted on Oil Palm Trunk (OPT) fiber that was used as fluid loss control (FLC) agent and lost circulation material (LCM) in drilling fluid. API filtration test was performed to evaluate the performance of OPT fiber as FLC while sand bed test was performed to evaluate the performance of OPT fiber as LCM. For the API filtration test, the addition of OPT fiber reduced the fluid loss while the filter cake thickness increased as higher amount of OPT fiber was added into the drilling mud. The use of fine size OPT fiber (<75?m) yielded the lowest fluid loss volume. For the sand bed test, mud invasion reduced as the concentration of OPT fiber increased. The findings also revealed that the OPT fiber with the size of 75-150?m performed best in reducing mud invasion with the value of merely 1 cm. Thus, it can be concluded that OPT fiber has a high potential to be used as FLC and LCM in drilling mud.