Patent Grant
11155748
The present invention relates to improving the properties of fluids used in the drilling, completion, servicing, and remediation of wells for oil and gas production from subterranean reservoirs (i.e. downhole fluids), and more particularly relates, in one non-limiting embodiment, to emulsion-based downhole fluids which contain star polymers of type effective to improve the properties thereof.
Downhole fluids, such as drilling fluids, drill-in fluids, completion fluids, workover fluids, and remediation fluids, used in the production of oil and gas from subterranean reservoirs are often complex emulsion-based fluids. Oil-in-water (“O/W”) emulsion fluids are widely used for low pressure and depleted oil and gas reservoirs, while water-in-oil (“W/O”) invert emulsion fluids may be useful in drilling, drill-in, completion, and workover of subterranean wells.
Because successful completion of an oil and gas well and production of hydrocarbons from an oil and gas reservoir is largely dependent upon these emulsion-based fluids, the task of making sure these downhole fluids have stable properties has gained significant interest in modern drilling and well completion operations.
In the case of emulsion-based drilling fluids, it is important to stabilize the emulsions in the fluids to confer better and more consistent rheological properties during use. Common problems for conventional invert drilling fluids, for example, include phase separation, oil breakout, and weighting agent sag, which lead to lack of control of rheological properties and less efficient drilling performance. Improved emulsion stability can make the fluid more resistant to phase separation, reduced weighting agent sag, and improve control of rheological properties for better drilling performance.
Surfactants or combinations of co-surfactants are often used in conventional emulsion drilling fluids to stabilize them. However, the structure of these conventional emulsifiers is limiting and do not necessarily lend themselves to creating emulsions with uniform droplet size, which may be helpful in optimizing the rheological properties of the emulsion-based fluid for more efficient, effective drilling and completion wellbores.
Therefore, it would be desirable to design emulsion-based downhole fluids with having low viscosity, high internal phase emulsions for improved downhole performance.
There is provided, in one non-limiting form, a method for stabilizing emulsions in a downhole fluid in which an amphiphilic star polymer and at least one surfactant are introduced, either separately or as a blend, into a downhole fluid containing emulsions in an amount effective to improve the stability of the emulsions in the downhole fluid.
There is also provided, in another form, a downhole fluid comprising: a at least one emulsion that is an oil-in-water emulsion and/or water-in-oil emulsion; an amphiphilic star polymer in an amount ranging from 0.1 pounds per barrel to about 20 pounds per barrel, based on a barrel of downhole fluid; and at least one surfactant in an amount ranging from about 8 pounds per barrel to about 15 pounds per barrel, based on a barrel downhole fluid.
In non-restrictive embodiment: the downhole fluid is a drilling fluid, a completion fluid, a drill-in fluid, a work over fluid, and/or a remediation fluid comprising oil-in-water, water-in-oil emulsions, or both; the amphiphilic star polymer is an amphiphilic star polymer with a sorbitol core and polyethylene oxide and/or polyethylene oxide/polymerized fatty acid arms, an amphiphilic star polymer with a polydivinylbenzene core and polyethylene oxide and/or polybutylacetate arms, or an amphiphilic star polymer with a biphenyl hexahydroxybenzene core and polystyrene arms and/or polyacrylic acid arms; and the at least one surfactant is a fatty acid, an oxidized fatty acid, a metal salt of a fatty acid, a metal salt of an oxidized fatty acid, a polyamidoamine, an imidazoline, an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide alkoxylate, an alkyl succinimide, and combinations thereof.
It has been discovered that the addition of amphiphilic star polymers along with surfactants to an emulsion-based downhole fluid is effective in enhancing the stability of the emulsions and thus improving the rheological properties of the downhole fluid for oil and gas production applications.
Amphiphilic star polymers are customizable compounds that have both hydrophilic and lipophilic regions contained within a general core-and-arm structure, as shown in the star polymer molecules in
Amphiphilic star polymers shown to be suitable for use in a downhole fluid to enhance emulsion stability include, but are not limited to, an amphiphilic star polymer with a sorbitol core and polyethylene oxide and/or polyethylene oxide/polymerized fatty acid arms, an amphiphilic star polymer with a polydivinylbenzene core and polyethylene oxide and/or polybutylacetate arms, and an amphiphilic star polymer with a biphenyl hexahydroxybenzene core and polystyrene arms and/or polyacrylic acid arms.
In one non-limiting embodiment, these star polymers are introduced to the downhole fluid in combination with one or more surfactants in amounts effective for producing a downhole fluid with improved stability and lower rheological properties. Surfactants that may be introduced with the amphiphilic star polymers of the kinds described herein to create a functional downhole fluid include, without limitation, a fatty acid, an oxidized fatty acid, a metal salt of a fatty acid, a metal salt of an oxidized fatty acid, a polyamidoamine, an imidazoline, an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide alkoxylate, an alkyl succinimide, and combinations thereof.
The amphiphilic star polymer(s) and at least one surfactant may be applied or introduced to the downhole fluid separately or as a blend. If introduced or added to the fluid in blend form, the amphiphilic star polymer(s) and surfactant(s) may be combined or blended within a carrier fluid. The carrier fluid may be one or more of the following: an olefin, diesel, mineral oil, a paraffin, an ester, and a glycol. In one non-limiting embodiment, the amount of amphiphilic star polymer in the blend ranges from about 1 wt. % to about 10 wt. %, the amount of the at least one surfactant in the blend ranges from about 60 wt. % to about 70 wt. %, and the amount of carrier fluid in the blend ranges from about 30 wt. % to about 40 wt. %. Alternatively, the amount of amphiphilic star polymer in the blend may range from about 1 wt. % to about 5 wt. %, the amount of at least one surfactant in the blend ranges from about 60 wt. % to about 65 wt. %, and the amount of carrier fluid in the blend ranges from about 30 wt. % to about 35 wt. %.
The amount of these components effective to improve emulsion stability and the rheological properties of the downhole fluid will vary depending on the ratios of oil-to-water or water-to-oil in the fluid and the temperature and pressure conditions. In one non-restrictive embodiment, the amount of amphiphilic star polymer effective to improve the stability of emulsions in a downhole fluid may range from about 0.1 pounds per barrel (“ppb”) independently to about 20 ppb independently, based on a barrel of downhole fluid, or, from about 0.1 ppb to about 5 ppb independently; and the amount of at least one surfactant effective to improve stability of emulsions in a downhole fluid ranges from about 8 ppb independently to about 15 ppb independently based a barrel of downhole fluid or, from about 9 ppb independently to about 11 ppb independently. If these two components are applied as a blend, the amount of blended additive effective to improve stability of emulsions in a downhole fluid may range from about 5 ppb to about 15 ppb, or, from about 8 ppb independently to about 11 ppb independently.
The downhole fluids that may be improved by the addition of amphiphilic star polymers and surfactants of the kinds described herein are any emulsion-based fluid that may be used for readying a well for oil and gas production and servicing or remediating that well once the well is completed.
Downhole fluids are typically classified according to their base fluid. In water-based downhole fluids, oil and solid particles are suspended in a continuous phase consisting of potable water, brine, or seawater. Oil can be emulsified in the aqueous continuous phase meaning the fluid may contain O/W emulsions. Oil-based downhole fluids are the opposite or inverse of water-based downhole fluids. In oil-based downhole fluids, water and solid particles are suspended in a continuous phase consisting of oil. In oil-based downhole fluids, potable water, seawater, or brine can be emulsified in the oil—i.e. the downhole fluid comprises water-in-oil (“W/O”) or invert emulsions. The oil in a water-based or oil-based downhole fluid may consist of any oil or water-immiscible fluid including, but is not limited to, diesel, mineral oil, paraffins, esters, refinery cuts and blends, or olefins. The oil phase may also be comprised of synthetically produced oils rather than those produced or refined from naturally-occurring materials. These often include, but are not necessarily limited to, olefin oligomers of ethylene, esters made from vegetable fatty acids and alcohols, ethers and polyethers made from alcohols and polyalcohols, glycols, paraffinic, or aromatic, hydrocarbons alkyl benzenes, terpenes and other natural products and mixtures of these types.
Non-limiting examples of oil-based and water-based downhole fluids containing emulsions include: a drilling fluid, a completion fluid, a drill-in fluid, a work over fluid, a remediation fluid, and combinations thereof.
The invention will now be illustrated with respect to certain examples which are not intended to limit the invention in any way but simply to further illustrate it in certain specific embodiments.
Samples of emulsion-based downhole fluids with different oil-to-water ratios containing conventional emulsifiers and samples of emulsion-based downhole fluids with different oil-to-water ratios containing a star polymer of kinds described herein were subjected to an emulsion stability study. In this study, a Turbiscan Lab was used to evaluate emulsion stability. Four separate samples of calcium chloride brine downhole fluid having a 60/40 or 50/50 oil-to-water ratio containing 6.5 ppb of a conventional emulsifier 1 (a crosslinked polyamidoamine), 6.5 ppb of a conventional emulsifier 2 (a different crosslinked polyamidoamine), 6.5 ppb of a conventional emulsifier 3 (a fatty acid imidazoline), and 6.5 ppb of IS 55, a star polymer of the type shown
Based on the measurements collected for each sample, the graphs in
For the samples of calcium chloride brine having a 60/40 oil-to-water ratio, a confocal microscope was used to generate images of the each sample to compare the emulsion droplet distribution/dispersion of the calcium chloride brine downhole fluid having a 60/40 oil-to-water ratio containing three separate convention emulsifiers to the emulsion droplet distribution/dispersion of a calcium chloride brine downhole fluid having a 60/40 oil-to-water ratio containing a star polymer of the kinds described herein. As
Using the same Turbiscan devices and programs, the emulsion stability of samples of a HyCal II calcium chloride/calcium bromide brine downhole fluid having a 70/30, 60/40, and 50/50 oil-to-water ratio treated with the same conventional emulsifiers and star polymer described above was also evaluated.
In separate series of tests with a viscometer, the rheological profiles of several treated downhole fluids were evaluated. Table 1 below shows the rheological data for samples of emulsion-based downhole fluids containing various concentrations of IS 55 and Conventional Emulsifier 1.
The downhole fluids C, D, and E with the Star Polymer and Conventional Emulsifier 1 combination display lower rheological readings overall when compared to downhole fluids A and B, which are treated with the Star Polymer by itself or the Conventional Emulsifier 1 by itself. The rheological profile of the downhole fluid treated with a combination formulation containing a low level of star polymer and a higher loading of a conventional emulsifier is similar to results from previous testing of formulations with IS 55, which suggests that the emulsion droplets are in a dispersed state. This is verified in the image in
Table 2 and
As indicated by the data in Table 2, which is graphed in
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, and has been described as effective in providing methods, additives, and treatments for formulating emulsion fluids for downhole applications. However, it will be evident that various modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit or scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification is to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. For example, fluids, star polymers, surfactants, conventional additives, such as conventional emulsifiers, and the structure, composition, amounts, and proportions of the components falling within the claimed parameters, but not specifically identified in this disclosure or evaluated in a particular Example, are expected to be within the scope of this invention.
The present invention may suitably comprise, consist or consist essentially of the elements disclosed and may be practiced in the absence of an element not disclosed. For instance, the method or fluid may comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of the steps or components recited in the independent claims, respectively. Specifically, there may be provided a method for stabilizing emulsions in a downhole fluid, the method consisting essentially of or consisting of introducing an amphiphilic star polymer and at least one surfactant to a downhole fluid containing emulsions in an amount effective to improve the stability of the emulsions in the downhole fluid. Further there may be provided a downhole fluid consisting essentially of or consisting of at least one emulsion selected from the group consisting of oil-in-water emulsions and/or water-in-oil emulsions; an amphiphilic star polymer in an amount ranging from 0.1 pounds per barrel to about 20 pounds per barrel, based on a barrel of downhole fluid; and at least one surfactant in an amount ranging from about 8 pounds per barrel to about 15 pounds per barrel, based on a barrel of downhole fluid.
The words “comprising” and “comprises” as used throughout the claims, are to be interpreted to mean “including but not limited to” and “includes but not limited to”, respectively.
As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
As used herein, the term “about” in reference to a given parameter is inclusive of the stated value and has the meaning dictated by the context (e.g., it includes the degree of error associated with measurement of the given parameter).
As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
As used herein, the term “substantially” means “to a great or significant extent” or “essentially.”
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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