In less than a decade, there have been two global meltdowns of crude oil price and the latest was caused by the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2020. This is expected to have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on those countries that depend more on the revenue from sales of crude oil. One of the measures that can be taken to survive this kind of situation in the future is to reduce the unit technical cost for producing a barrel of oil by using locally available materials. This research investigated a local clay sourced from Ropp in Plateau State, Nigeria, by considering its rheological characteristics and economic implications of using it for partial to total substitution of imported bentonite clay for oil and gas drilling operations. The local clay was termed as Ropp bentonite clay (RBC). Various spud mud samples were prepared by dispersing a mixture of imported bentonite clay (IBC) and RBC (0–100%) in 350 ml of water. Certain quantity (0–1 g) of polyacrylamide cellulose was added to the mud samples before rheological and physical properties were determined using the standard API procedure. An economic model was built to determine the cost implications of using any of the mud formulations at different consumption rates. The results show that IBC–RBC blend in the right proportion could save Nigeria 12 to 36% of the cost of bentonite clay used to drill wells in the country.

在不到十年的时间里，全球两次原油价格暴跌，最近一次是由于2020年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的传播所致。这预计将对全球经济产生负面影响，尤其是对那些更依赖于原油销售收入的国家。将来要在这种情况下生存的可采取的措施之一是通过使用当地可用的材料来降低生产一桶石油的单位技术成本。这项研究调查了从尼日利亚的高原州Ropp采购的当地黏土，考虑了其流变特性和将其部分或完全替代进口的膨润土黏土用于石油和天然气钻井作业的经济意义。当地的粘土被称为Ropp膨润土（RBC）。通过将进口的膨润土（IBC）和RBC（0–100％）的混合物分散在350毫升的水中，制备出各种矿浆样品。在使用标准API程序测定流变和物理性能之前，将一定量（0-1 g）的聚丙烯酰胺纤维素添加到泥浆样品中。建立了经济模型来确定以不同的消耗率使用任何泥浆配方的成本影响。结果表明，适当比例的IBC-RBC混合物可以为尼日利亚节省用于该国钻井的膨润土的成本的12％至36％。在使用标准API程序测定流变和物理性能之前，将一定量（0-1 g）的聚丙烯酰胺纤维素添加到泥浆样品中。建立了经济模型，以确定在不同消耗率下使用任何泥浆配方的成本影响。结果表明，适当比例的IBC-RBC混合物可以为尼日利亚节省用于该国钻井的膨润土的成本的12％至36％。在使用标准API程序测定流变和物理性能之前，将一定量（0-1 g）的聚丙烯酰胺纤维素添加到泥浆样品中。建立了经济模型，以确定在不同消耗率下使用任何泥浆配方的成本影响。结果表明，适当比例的IBC-RBC混合物可以为尼日利亚节省用于该国钻井的膨润土的成本的12％至36％。