In answer to their questions I asked them if they'd been to Malham Cove, visited the White Scar Caves or remembered much of their geography lessons from school. I'd then explain that, yes, the mud mechanics will use ANYTHING that might have the right shape, size, consistency to suit the required behaviour of the mud, required to fill the voids in the rock and prevent losses of the valuable fluid.
This results in the incorporation of the weird, wonderful and downright strange, from peanut husks to golf balls. Now this article by Noah Brenner, in Upstream illustrates a side to this debate that I hadn't previously considered. Guar is apparently used as a thickener for drilling mud, as well as being widely used in foods. Now it's cost has risen 'exponentially' and it's observed as a credible threat to the shale gas exploration that has provided the largest excitement in the North American industry for the past few years.
According to Gregory Vermeychuk the Guar used by the Oil Industry and that used in foods are different, the land used for growing the beans can be of low quality, and other cash crops have a greatly higher value. So perhaps the growing price of Guar will simply become an acceptable cost in the already costly environment of the shale gas plays.
P.S. - A key benefit of Guar is that in common with other leguminous beans, it fixes nitrogen improving the soil it is planted in.
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