Production Chemicals for the Oil and Gas Industry

Production chemistry issues result from changes in well stream fluids, both liquid and gaseous, during processing. Since crude oil production is characterized by variable production rates and unpredictable changes to the nature of the produced fluids, it is essential for production chemists to have a range of chemical additives available for rectifying issues that would not otherwise be fully resolved. Modern production methods, the need to upgrade crude oils of variable quality, and environmental constraints demand chemical solutions. Thus, oilfield production chemicals are necessary to overcome or minimize the effects of the production chemistry problems.

Production Chemicals for the Oil and Gas Industry, Second Edition discusses a wide variety of production chemicals used by the oil and gas industry for down-hole and topside applications both onshore and offshore. Incorporating the large amount of research and applications since the first edition, this new edition reviews all past and present classes of production chemicals, providing numerous difficult-to-obtain references, especially SPE papers and patents. Unlike other texts that focus on how products perform in the field, this book focuses on the specific structures of chemicals that are known to deliver the required or desired performance—information that is very useful for research and development.

Each updated chapter begins by introducing a problem, such as scale or corrosion, for which there is a production chemical. The author then briefly discusses all chemical and nonchemical methods to treat the problem and provides in-depth descriptions of the structural classes of relevant production chemicals. He also mentions, when available, the environmental properties of chemicals and whether the chemical or technique has been successfully used in the field. This edition includes two new chapters and nearly 50 percent more references.