Use of inhibitors for scale control in brine-producing gas and oil wells
Field and laboratory work sponsored by the Gas Research Institute (GRI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) have shown that calcium-carbonate scale formation in waters produced with natural gas and oil can be prevented by injection of phosphonate inhibitor into the formation, even if the formation is sandstone without calcite binding material. Inhibitor squeeze jobs have been carried out on DOE's geopressured-geothermal Gladys MaCall brine-gas well and GRI's co-production wells in the Hitchcock field. Following the inhibitor squeeze on Gladys McCall, the well produced over five million barrels of water at a rate of approximately 30,000 BPD without calcium-carbonate scaling. Before the inhibitor squeeze, the well could not be produced above 15,000 BPD without significant scale formation. In the GRI brine-gas co-production field tests, inhibitor squeezes have been used to successfully prevent scaling. Laboratory work has been conducted to determine what types of oil field waters are subject to scaling. This research has led to the development of a saturation index and accompanying nomographs which allow prediction of when scale will develop into a problem in brine production. Core samples from both fields were used in laboratory studies and analytical methods to analyze inhibitors in brine at a low levels were extended. A complete history of field development and the laboratory backup experiments is included in this paper.
- Research Organization:
- Rice Univ.
- OSTI ID:
- 6974558
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-861080-
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Society of Petroleum Engineers annual technical conference and exhibition, New Orleans, LA, USA, 5 Oct 1986
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Brine chemistry and control of adverse chemical reactions with natural gas production. Annual report, January-December 1984
Use of inhibitors for scale control in brine-producing gas and oil wells
Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
CORROSION INHIBITORS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
NATURAL GAS WELLS
SCALE CONTROL
OIL WELLS
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BRINES
CALCIUM
CARBONATES
COORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
EXPERIMENT PLANNING
FIELD TESTS
FLUID INJECTION
FORECASTING
INTERSTITIAL WATER
PHOSPHONATES
PRECIPITATION
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
SANDSTONES
US DOE
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CONTROL
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANNING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TESTING
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER
WELLS
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
030300 - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
& Processing