Barite, or Baryte (BaSO4) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. The barite group consists of barite, Celestine, anglesite and anhydrite. Barite itself is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium. Barite and Celestine form a solid solution (Ba,Sr)SO4. 77% of baryte worldwide is used as a weighting agent for drilling fluids in oil and gas exploration to suppress high formation pressures and prevent blowouts. As a well is drilled, the bit passes through various formations, each with different characteristics. The deeper the hole, the more baryte is needed as a percentage of the total mud mix. An additional benefit of baryte is that it is non-magnetic and thus does not interfere with magnetic measurements taken in the borehole, either during logging-while drilling or in separate drill hole logging. Baryte used for drilling petroleum wells can be black, blue, brown or gray depending on the ore body. The baryte is finely ground so that at least 97% of the material, by weight, can pass through a 200-mesh (75-μm) screen, and no more than 30%, by weight, can be less than 6 μm diameter. The ground baryte also must be dense enough so that its specific gravity is 4.2 or greater, soft enough to not damage the bearings of a tricone drill bit, chemically inert, and containing no more than 250 milligrams per kilogram of soluble alkaline salts

Bentonite is an absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. The different types of bentonite are each named after the respective dominant element, such as potassium (K), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), and aluminum (Al). Sodium bentonite expands when wet, absorbing as much as several times its dry mass in water. Because of its excellent colloidal properties, [3] it is often used in drilling mud for oil and gas wells and boreholes for geotechnical and environmental investigations. [2] The property of swelling also makes sodium bentonite useful as a sealant, since it provides a self-sealing, low permeability barrier.

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite (most notably as limestone) and is the main component of pearls and the shells of marine organisms, snails, and eggs. In the oil industry, calcium carbonate is added to drilling fluids as a formation-bridging and filtercake-sealing agent; it is also a weighting material which increases the density of drilling fluids to control the down hole pressure

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