Barite 3 : One of the many forms of the barium sulfate mineral. The BaSO4 material is used in drilling mud as a weighting agent and can produce a slurry of over 20 lb/gal in water
George E. King Engineering, 5000 Oilfield Terms: A Glossary of Petroleum Engineering Terms, Abbreviations and Acronyms, US 2010. http://gekengineering.com/Downloads/Free_Downloads /Glossary_of_Petroleum_Engineering_Terms_25_August _2010.pdf, (Oil - Amer) {593}