Drilling Mud

Drilling fluids (as the suits say), or drilling mud (as the cool kids say), helps make drilling holes into the ground a whole lot easier. It’s basically lube for drills, which is often used when drilling for gas and oil, but also for more basic drilling, like for a well.

Guess which one is the most environmentally friendly type of drilling mud: the water-based drilling mud, the oil-based drilling mud, or the synthetic-based drilling mud? If you guessed synthetic, congratulations, you are correct. The synthetic-based drilling mud was made with drilling in mind, so it degrades the fastest and is the most environmentally friendly. Natural isn’t always better.

As dirty as drilling mud sounds, it actually helps keep things cleaner than without it. The drilling mud gets stuck in the drill’s twisty bits, which winds a bunch of debris up the drill and to the surface.