A consulting firm based in India and the United States, Grand View Research, has said the revival of bidding for new exploration and production (E&P) projects in the years to come would spur the growth of the drilling mud market.

The company estimated that the world market for drilling mud would be worth $10.12 million by 2025.

In the Asia-Pacific, the sales are projected to reach $1.5 billion by 2025 owing to growing E&P activities in countries such as China and Indonesia, the company said.

On Thursday, Pertamina exported its maiden shipment of 4,000 barrels of drilling mud, aka Smooth Fluid-05 (SF-05), to its upstream subsidiary in Algeria, Pertamina Algeria EP (PAEP).

The shipment departed from the firm's refinery in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan that currently has a refining capacity to produce 1.8 million barrels of SF-05 per year.

Pertamina corporate marketing director Basuki Trikora Putra said during Thursday’s ceremony that the shipment was worth more than Rp 10 billion ($ 708,802). “It might be small in terms of value, but every big thing must start small right? This is proof that our synergy among the subsidiaries is working,” he said.

The export, according to the company’s written statement, was jointly carried out by two of Pertamina's subsidiaries, namely Pertamina Lubricants and Petrochemical Trading.

“This maiden shipment is a milestone for our SF-05 product,“ Basuki, said, adding that Pertamina also planned to export drilling mud to other countries.

SF-05 is an adaptable base oil that used to lubricate oil drilling. It is to replace the oil-based fluids as the SF-05 is synthetic, which claimed to be more efficient.

Denie S. Tampubolon, the president director of Pertamina International EP (PIEP), which is the parent company of PAEP, told the press that the SF-05 would first be used in two of PAEP’s oil wells.

“We want to try it first in our two wells and then use it gradually in other wells,” he said referring to PAEP’s Well 10 and Well 11 in the Menzel Lejmet North (MLN) Block.

After being tested in two wells, the SF-05 would also be used in 12 to 20 of PAEP's wells, with a total demand for 32,000 barrels of drilling mud, according to the statement.

PAEP is also partially owned by Spanish energy firm Repsol and Algeria's state-owned energy Sonatrach. Currently, PAEP operates 67 oil wells in Algeria with a current production capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

Denie of PIEP explained that SF-05 has an advantage over diesel-based drilling mud in terms of clean emissions and he also claimed that the price of SF-05 is more competitive, even after including the logistic costs.

“We have calculated the economic cost [of SF-05], but we can’t disclose it yet. However, I can say that the calculation showed that our product is a competitive one,” he said.

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