Abstract:
Oilfield chemicals are important products in the process of petroleum production, mainly including five categories: drilling chemicals, cementing chemicals, oil production chemicals, gathering and transportation chemicals and sewage treatment chemicals.
This paper summarizes five categories of oilfield chemicals and their uses. This paper discusses and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the three modes of oilfield chemicals procurement mode, oilfield chemicals procurement and effect tracking service mode, and oilfield chemicals integrated service mode.The integrated service mode is worthy of being widely promoted because it can provide customers with comprehensive solutions and long-term service and profit.
Keywords:
oilfield chemicals, product classification, service mode, integrated service.
As an important product throughout the whole process of oil production, oilfield chemicals are widely used in all processes of oil exploration, drilling and production, gathering and transportation, and water injection, and play a vital role in increasing crude oil production and enhancing oil recovery. Oilfield chemicals as a field of fine chemical industry, with the rapid development of high-tech in modern oilfield industry, the performance and quality of oilfield chemicals are put forward higher and higher requirements, and the industry is developing very fast. According to relevant research reports, it is estimated that the global oil consumption will reach its peak in 2022, and the global market capacity of oilfield chemicals will be 40 billion US dollars in 2022. There are many kinds of oilfield chemicals products and service modes in the world.
1. Types of oilfield chemicals
Oilfield chemicals have been developed for many years. At present, the commonly used oilfield chemicals include: drilling chemicals, cementing chemicals, oil production chemicals, gathering and transportation chemicals and sewage treatment chemicals.
1.1 Drilling Chemicals
Drilling fluid is a kind of sol suspension formed by dispersed phase particles dispersed in the dispersion medium. According to the different dispersion medium, drilling fluid can be divided into water-based mud, oil-based mud and air-based mud. Among them, water-based mud is the most widely used because of its relatively low cost, accounting for more than 95% of the drilling fluid consumption. The main chemicals in the drilling fluid and their uses are shown in Table 1.
| Chemicals Name | Main Function |
|---|---|
| Weighing agent | Increasing drilling mud density to maintain balanced drilling and prevent blowout |
| Fluid loss additive | Reducing formation fluid loss of drilling mud |
| Viscosifier | Increasing the sand-carrying capacity of drilling mud |
| Shale inhibitor | Increasing shale stability to prevent borehole collapse |
| Viscosity reducer | Reducing the viscosity of drilling mud, speeding up the circulation of drilling fluid and improving the drilling speed |
| Lubricant | Reducing friction and increasing drilling speed |
| Bactericide | Inhibits bacterial growth and prevents corrosion and biofouling |
| Defoamer | Eliminating and Inhibiting Drilling Mud Foaming to Improve Drilling Efficiency |
| Stuck release agent | Remove stuck |
| PH control agent | Keeping drilling mud stable and reducing drilling tool corrosion |
| Temperature stabilizer | Maintaining the stability of drilling mud to ensure safe drilling |
| Plugging agent | Sealing downhole loopholes to prevent a large amount of drilling mud from leaking |
| Foaming agent | Reducing drilling mud density to maintain balanced drilling |
| Coated flocculant | So that that colloid particle of the drilling fluid are flocculate properly or the dispersed particles are agglomerated by flocculation to form flocculate blocks and precipitate, and the low solid phase of the drilling fluid is maintained |
| Corrosion inhibitor | Inhibit internal corrosion of metal drilling tools and circulation equipment |
| Emulsifier | Promote two immiscible solutions to form a uniformly mixed emulsion |
| Calcium remover | Removing calcium ions from drilling fluid |
1.2 Cementing Chemicals
Cementing chemicals refer to the chemicals added to the injected cement to ensure smooth construction and cementing quality during cementing operation. Commonly used cementing cement additives and their uses are shown in Table 2.
| Chemicals Name | Main Function |
|---|---|
| Weighing agent | Increasing drilling mud density to maintain balanced drilling and prevent blowout |
| Fluid loss additive | Reducing formation fluid loss of drilling mud |
| Defoamer | Eliminating and Inhibiting Drilling Mud Foaming to Improve Drilling Efficiency |
| Plugging agent | Sealing downhole loopholes to prevent a large amount of drilling mud from leaking |
| Coagulant | Accelerate the setting of cementing slurry and shorten the thickening time of cementing slurry |
| Retarder | Slow down the solidification of cement slurry and prolong the thickening time of cement slurry |
| Enhancer | Improving the strength of cementing well wall |
| Drag reducing dispersant | Reduce the cement slurry consistency, improve the fluidity, and improve the fluidity of cement slurry |
| Anti-gas channeling agent | Prevent gas migration and improve cementing quality |
| Reduce external admixtures | Decrease the density of the cement slurry system to reduce the static pressure of the cement slurry column. Prevent lost circulation caused by rupture of weak formations |
| Expansion agent | The volume expands when the cement is set to compensate for shrinkage and tension prestress, and fully fill the cement gap |
1.3 Oil production chemicals
A chemical used to extract oil from the bottom of a well to the surface, including stimulation. It mainly includes paraffin remover, fracturing fluid, acidizing fluid, water shutoff agent, etc. Commonly used cementing cement additives and their uses are shown in Table 3.
| Chemicals Name | Main Function |
|---|---|
| Bactericide | Inhibits bacterial growth and prevents corrosion and biofouling |
| Drainage aid | Reducing the surface tension and interfacial tension of fracturing fluid |
| Corrosion inhibitor | Inhibit internal corrosion of metal drilling tools and circulation equipment |
| Crosslinking agent | Crosslinking the dissolved polymer to form a gel |
| Clay stabilizer | Stabilize the formation and prevent it from collapsing |
| Steering agent | Temporary plugging of high permeability zones to divert fracturing fluid to low permeability zone |
| Anti-emulsifier | Prevent fracturing fluid from forming high-viscosity emulsion when meeting with crude oil |
| Foaming agent | Create foam in fracturing fluid |
| Drag reducing agent | Reducing the frictional resistance of fracturing fluid in the injection string |
| Fluid loss additive | Reducing formation fluid loss of drilling mud |
| Gel breaker | Break and hydrate a fracturing fluid gel |
| Proppant | Support the fracture formation gap to prevent the secondary closure of the fracture formation |
| PH control agent | Keeping drilling mud stable and reducing drilling tool corrosion |
| Temporary plugging agent | Temporarily plugging high permeability formation according to fracturing requirement |
| Viscosifier | Increasing the sand-carrying capacity of drilling mud |
1.4 Gathering and transportation chemicals
Gathering and transportation chemicals refer to the chemicals used in the whole process of collecting, processing and transporting crude oil and associated gas produced by oil wells to ensure the quality of oil and gas, ensure the safety and reliability of production process and reduce energy consumption. Commonly used oil and gas gathering and transportation chemicals and their uses are shown in Table 4.
| Chemicals Name | Main Function |
|---|---|
| Corrosion inhibitor | Inhibit internal corrosion of metal drilling tools and circulation equipment |
| Viscosity reducer | Reducing the viscosity of drilling mud, speeding up the circulation of drilling fluid and improving the drilling speed |
| Scale inhibitor | Inhibit the formation of inorganic scale to cause formation plugging and reduce pipeline transportation efficiency |
| Wax removal and anti-wax agent | Inhibit or remove wax from the pipeline to avoid pipeline blockage |
| Pour point depressant | Decreasing the pour point of crude oil in oil pipeline to facilitate shutdown and restart |
| Demulsifier | Destroy the emulsion to achieve oil-water separation |
| Defoamer | Eliminating and Inhibiting Drilling Mud Foaming to Improve Drilling Efficiency |
| Drag reducing agent | Reducing the frictional resistance of fracturing fluid in the injection string |
1.5 Oilfield water treatment chemicals
Water for oil and gas fields includes water for oil production, water injection, surface facilities and drilling. Water injection is widely used to develop oil fields, which has maintained high and stable production for a long time, but the amount of water injection is very large. Most of the water used is produced water, reservoir associated water, seawater, and even industrial wastewater, which can only be used after chemical treatment. Commonly used oil and gas field water treatment chemicals and their uses are shown in Table 5.
| Chemicals Name | Main Function |
|---|---|
| Corrosion inhibitor | Inhibit internal corrosion of metal drilling tools and circulation equipment |
| Bactericide | Inhibits bacterial growth and prevents corrosion and biofouling |
| Scale inhibitor | Inhibit the formation of inorganic scale to cause formation plugging and reduce pipeline transportation efficiency |
| Reverse demulsifier | Reducing oil content in water |
| Water purifying agent | Removal of mechanical impurities and dirty oil from water |
| Oxygen scavenger | Reducing Oxygen Content in Water and Inhibiting Metal Corrosion |
| Flotation agent | The adhesive force between bubbles generated by air flotation and particles of suspended matters in water is improved, and the effect of air flotation treatment is improved through the aggregation and enlargement of the particles in an electric neutralization mode. |
| Filter aid | Improving the effect of removing impurities and oil from the filter |
2 Oilfield Chemical Technology Service Mode
There are three main service modes of oilfield chemical technology, namely, product supply mode, product supply and use effect tracking mode, and integrated service mode of the whole oilfield.
2.1 Product supply mode
Product supply mode means that oilfield chemical manufacturers provide corresponding products according to the technical indicators specified by customers, and do not send technicians to the oilfield for product use guidance and effect tracking. In this mode, the manufacturer is only responsible for the supply, does not need service equipment and on-site service personnel, has small investment and low management cost, but the market competition is fierce, the profitability of the manufacturer is low, and generally can not achieve long-term stable supply; Oilfield Party a also needs to constantly screen and replace suppliers, and the management cost of oilfield chemicals is high.
2.2 Product supply and use effect tracking mode
Oilfield chemical product procurement and effect tracking service refers to: conduct product test first, supply products to customers after the products pass the inspection, and send technicians to the oilfield site to provide technical services such as product screening, use guidance and dosing scheme formulation of chemicals according to the requirements of customers. In this way, the product manufacturer needs to send technicians to organize relevant experimental equipment, so it needs a certain amount of investment, but for a single product, it can achieve long-term supply.
For Party a in the oilfield, technicians can adjust the dosing scheme in time according to the production requirements to a certain extent, which is helpful to the oilfield production, but because of the use of more chemicals in the oilfield, Party a still has a lot of management costs in the procurement and storage of chemicals.
2.3 Integrated service mode
With the development of global oil and gas resources, in order to effectively avoid the risk of oilfield development and production and reduce costs, oilfield service companies provide general contracting services for a part of the oilfield to the whole.
Integrated services include: Pre-project design, feasibility study, project basic operation, project management and operation, post-project evaluation, etc. The integrated service mode of oilfield chemicals also puts forward higher requirements for technical service providers, mainly including the following aspects.
First, strong resource organization capability, oil service companies need to establish their own camps and storage facilities in the oil field. Second, project management ability, in addition to the basic ability of technical service ability, it also needs to be combined with project management ability to design the process of on-site operation. Thirdly, the service personnel of compound scientific and technological talents should not only provide technical models for customers, but also serve customers and themselves to achieve returns. Fourth, strong R & D capabilities need to be able to quickly develop products to meet the needs of oilfield production.
In terms of drilling chemicals, cementing chemicals and oil production chemicals, in order to reduce the workload of personnel management and procurement and reduce the procurement cost, Party A mostly adopts the integrated service mode. Generally, they are packaged and awarded to integrated service companies for services. Halliburton is the largest provider of cementing and completion chemicals as well as drilling fluids. M-I SWACO, another drilling fluids company, is a joint venture between Schlumberger and Smith Industries, both leaders in oilfield services. Schlumberger is also an important company in the field of cementing and completion chemicals. Baker Hughes provides drilling chemicals through Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids. These companies provide integrated services of drilling chemicals and cementing chemicals in many foreign oilfields.
In terms of gathering and transportation, oilfield water treatment chemicals, the integrated service mode is seldom used in oilfields. This is due to the relatively small size of service contracts and the absence of large service companies in the market for such products. However, some enterprises are also trying to provide integrated services of gathering and transportation, oilfield water treatment and chemicals.
Conclusion
The global oilfield chemicals market is expanding, and oilfield chemicals are more widely used, mainly including drilling chemicals, cementing chemicals, oil production chemicals, gathering and transportation chemicals and sewage treatment chemicals. At present, there are three main service modes in the oilfield chemical market, namely, product supply mode, product supply and use effect tracking mode, and integrated service mode for the whole oilfield. Each of the three modes has its own advantages and disadvantages, but the integrated service mode can serve the oilfield for a long time, has sustained profitability, and can reduce the cost of Party a, so it is a service mode worthy of wide promotion.