Gilsonite performs comparably to sulfonated asphalt in water based mud systems at 25 to 50% lower cost. That claim is easy to make and harder to evidence, so this page sets out the field data behind it: two offshore Louisiana wells where the numbers were measured rather than estimated — a 36% reduction in torque, […]
Gilsonite is used extensively onshore and on the offshore shelf, but its use in deepwater has been limited for one reason that has nothing to do with performance: a widespread industry belief that gilsonite and other asphaltic additives — the so-called black powders — cannot be discharged into a marine environment without breaching EPA standards. […]
