Potential Problems
Corrosion and separation (tank battery upsets) are the most common problems associated with producing well polymer treatments. Accelerated corrosion can occur as a result of polymer production. The use of uncrosslinked polymer as flush can make this problem worse. Polymer also coats rods and tubing, which prevents contact by corrosion inhibitors. It is recommended to use a separate work string for pumping the polymer treatment as a best practice. Corrosion treating recommendations are to: 1) batch treat rather than continuous (twice per month if over 500 barrels of fluid per day), 2) circulate a “bio-dispersant” prior to batch treatment (quaternary amines are most common), 3) continue the above program only as long as polymer production continues.

Most battery upsets can be avoided by swabbing to a frac tank after the treatment to make sure the well has “cleaned-up” prior to switching production to the tank battery. Visual inspection of the produced fluid is usually an adequate quality control method.

Online Database
The Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP) at the University of Kansas has a long history of research and field applications related to gelled polymers. TORP is working with service companies and oil operators to develop a database on the treatments conducted to date and investigating areas where university engineers and scientists can be of assistance in better defining where and how to apply this technology. Questions looking to be answered include better defining candidate well selection, treatment volumes and modeling what actually occurs during and after the treatments.

As part of this effort, TORP working in conjunction with the North Midcontinent region of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) has developed a website containing information on these gel polymer treatments. The website address is www.nmcpttc.org/gel. The website contains: 1) names, locations, and well data of treated wells, 2) size of pre-treatment acid job, 3) treating report from vendor, 4) before and after water and oil production plots, 5) before and after fluid levels when available, 6) before and after artificial lift equipment when available, 7) build-up and bottom-hole pressure data when available, 8) miscellaneous reports, and 9) contact information and links to other relevant sights. Some of the operators supplying data choose to keep well names and locations confidential.

The website currently contains detailed information on 37 treatments. The website will soon be expanded to include information on 92 treatments, along with economic analysis of the treatments. Plans are to continue to expand the data on the website to include as many wells as data can be acquired for and to link the production data to State production records to continually update production plots where applicable.