Pioneering Industry's First Oil Degradable, Nano-Composite Formulations, for HPHT Temporary Sealing

Abstract

Abstract The Oil and Gas industry is continuously evolving and of late adopting novel and new technologies while transitioning to harness sustainable energies. To improve material efficiency and reduce overall carbon footprint, we have seen the evolution of brine dissolvable alloys, dissolvable PGA/composites, and of late dissolvable bulk-metallic-glass-composites and high-entropy alloys. The triggers for dissolution of these materials are often common downhole-fluids of an aqueous-nature. These materials undergo accelerated corrosion via anodic-dissolution or hydrolysis, facilitated by elevated downhole temperatures. While these technologies have matured over the last decade into readily available and economic offerings, our industry has lacked significant progress in materials which dissolve in hydrocarbons, while remaining unaffected by aqueous fluids. Motivated to bridge this technology gap, we have embarked on a project to pioneer an industry first oil-degradable metal-matrix nanocomposite. A focused application for this novel material, will be eliminating the use of wash pipes through intelligent use of a port-isolation temporary-seal, preventing communication from ID-to- OD during deployment in brine, while opening up on demand during production. This can be "Game Changing" for Operators, saving them rig-time and costs in the millions of dollars. A oneway ball-valve for deploying sand-screens using our oil-degradable ball as a temporary seal has been envisioned. The ball will seal against flow-ports when running-in-hole, precluding annular- to-tubular communication. Once screens are set, and the well tied-in to flow, produced oil will drive the sealing-ball away. The ball is retained in a cage to allow unrestricted production. In reality, this solution presents challenges. Production of solids, and asphaltenes often build up around the caged ball leading to restricted production, often needing costly intervention. The ideal scenario would be if the ball-seals can be removed by dissolution in the produced hydrocarbons. This will ensure unrestricted production, reduce the possibility of intervention and rig-time loss, all-in-all a step towards lowering our carbon-footprint.