Novel inhibitor chemistry for oilfield scale application

The body of work presented here is focussed on five published papers which address solving
inorganic scale problems experienced by the North Sea oil industry with a focus on the Norwegian
Continential Shelf (NCS) over the last ten years or so. The degree of increasing difficulty in
addressing issues of serious barium sulphate scaling, in the reservoir and wellbore areas,
complicated by seawater breakthrough, the authorities demand for improvement in environmental properties of the chemistries deployed, the cost driven push for longer treatment life and with the increasing awareness of the damaging effects of deploying water based scale inhibitors into water sensitive reservoirs, is described in detail.
The work focuses on industry developed laboratory test methods, synthesising novel chemistries and
developing improved deployment designs as a means of solving these significant problems.
The work is not a pure chemistry programme, it is an applied chemistry study focused on solving reallife oilfield scale problems. The project(s), planning and strategy involved leveraging knowledge and input from across the disciplines of production chemistry, petroleum engineering and near wellbore region modelling. It should be noted the real driver for the work was the inability of the available commercialised chemistries to resolve the problems. The resultant loss of production and associated
remedial treatments were of a significant financial and environmental cost to the industry.
The papers cover the design testing and deployment of co-polymers and terpolymers to produce innovative molecules which offer higher performance scale inhibition and life of treatments in actively producing oil wells. The new molecules meet the environmental requirements of biodegradation, bioaccumulation and toxicity.
The projects offered are under the following headings:
 Enhanced inhibitor squeeze treatment life through "Bridging"
 Field experiences in Application of Inhibitor Interactive Packages Resulting in Increased
Squeeze Life.
 Development of multi-functional chemicals for efficient "fines" control and squeeze life
enhancement in producing oil wells.
 Development of highly efficient and environmentally friendly scale inhibitor molecules for oilfield use, including reference to more efficient placement technology.
 Oil soluble scale inhibitor development.
The papers describe synthesis, laboratory testing and field deployment experiments leading to
adoption of the new technology by multi-national oil companies. In most cases patents have also
been granted. The value added of the work is also quantified in both environmental and financial
aspects.