1. n. [Drilling Fluids]

A salt made with stearic acid, which is a fatty acid, a type of organic acid derived from animal and vegetable fats and oils. Fatty acids are the raw materials used in the manufacture of many drilling-fluid additives, such as emulsifiers, oil-wetting agents and lubricants.

See: aluminum stearate,  amides,  amines,  bland coring fluid,  drilling fluid,  emulsifier,  fatty acid,  fatty-acid soap,  greasing out,  hydrolysis,  oil mud,  oil-mud emulsifier,  quaternary amine,  rheology modifier,  soap,  sulfate-reducing bacteria,  synthetic-base fluid,  tall oil,  water mud