Saving Natural Gas with Muddy Water 



Why muddy water? Because the mud clogs 

 up the outlets in ^ the gas-bearing sands 



The clay and water are mixed in outside pits and then 

 pumped into the wells. The mud effectually plugs up the 

 gas-bearing sand without interfering with the drilling 



IN boring for oil, work is frequently hin- 

 dered by unexpected gas-bearing sands. 

 Huge quantities of valuable gas are thus 

 allowed to escape, because it is oil, not gas, 

 which the workmen are after. 



The Government Bureau of Mines, 

 noticing this waste, has recently evolved a 

 method of reducing and practically prevent- 

 ing it, without in any way hindering the 

 work of boring for oil. Thus the gas 

 is conserved for later consumption. Be- 

 sides, it is made far less dangerous for the 

 workmen to operate the drilling machinery. 



The method makes use of so simple a 

 remedy as muddy water — a material some- 

 times dignified by the technical name of 

 "mud-laden fluid." It is based on the 

 principle that a drill-bit on the end of a 

 long cable can go up and down in fairly 

 fluid water almost as readily as it can in 

 a dry hole and hit the bottom of the hole 

 just as hard. The muddy water in the 

 well opposes the outflow of gas. Why 

 muddy water? Because water has a ten- 

 dency to become muddy by loosening 



material from the sides 

 of the hole, causing cav- 

 ing and unending diffi- 

 culties. If the water is 

 already muddy, the solid 

 material carried in sus- 

 pension soaks into the 

 gas-bearing sands as they 

 are encountered, effect- 

 ually plugging them up, 

 at the same tim.e permit- 

 ting the drill to work on 

 the bottom of the hole. 

 It is little hindered by 

 the presence of the water. 

 If the gas pressure is 

 great, the well can be 

 nearly filled with the 

 muddy water, the weight 

 of the resultant liquid 

 column being sufficient in 

 most cases to stop any 

 outflow of gas bubbles, 

 thus reinforcing the ef- 

 forts of the mud which 

 has soaked into the gas- 

 eous sands. 



The mud-laden fluid 

 is usually made up of 

 about twenty per cent clay and the 

 rest water. Sticky clays, such as gumbo, 

 are most effective. The clay and the 

 water are mixed in outside pits and 

 then pumped into the well. The precise 

 methods by which the pumping is done 

 depend upon various factors, such as 

 whether the well is already blowing gas or 

 not, whether the well is deep enough so 

 that a water column is sufficient to hold 

 back the gas pressure without external aid, 

 and similar considerations. In each case 

 simple expedients are used, the desired end 

 being to get the muddy water into the hole 

 with as little danger of asphyxiating the 

 workmen as possible and with as little loss 

 of the gas as may be. A well once sealed 

 up with muddy water in this fashion may 

 be opened at any later time simply by 

 pumping out the water. The gas pres- 

 sure will at once overcome any opposition 

 of the mud soaked into the sands. 



Thus the owner of the well may keep 

 the gas bottled up in its natural reservoir 

 until such time as he may find use for it. 



