Clariant Oil Services Demulsifier Dramatically Increases Oil Production by up to 27

Benefits

• Increased the speed of oil and water separation
• Improved water quality by eliminating the emulsion interface
• Improved oil quality by removing emulsified water droplets; thus decreasing BS&W
• Increased production on existing wells and flow of additional wells through existing equipment
• Grew annual revenue by more than $20MM without need for investment in additional equipment

Background

An offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico was experiencing high BS&W levels due to perceived limitations of the existing equipment, topside. The operators were forced to choke back production on several wells and shut-in other wells entirely.

Yet even with decreased production, the operators continuously fought water and oil quality problems, and many hours were spent adjusting rates and levels, as well as experimenting with various chemicals.

Clariant Oil Services was invited to provide an assessment of the conditions and found the following:

• Chemical was pumped at 14 different injection locations; 11 of which utilized either demulsifiers or paraffin solvents
• BS&W was extremely high, causing the operators to limit well production
• Water quality was difficult to manage and constantly required attention or production shut-ins

Clariant Oil Services Solutions and Value Delivered

Following the assessment, Clariant Oil Services performed rigorous bottle testing in search of an alternative treatment program. PHASETREAT 6275 demulsifier was recommended, as results indicated it could lead to a reduction in the number of injection points from 11 to three, while eliminating the need for one chemical entirely. Additionally, changing the injection point location would further improve system results dramatically.

After the application of PHASETREAT 6275, improvements in water clarity and oil cleanliness allowed the operators to increase production by 13% to 27%, while utilizing 8% less chemical per BOE. The increased production generated an average of $20MM more in annual revenue. Through additional monthly monitoring and optimizations, Clariant Oil Services kept the system functioning at a high level. Furthermore, the operators are now considering routing fluids from other producing fields to the platform for processing.

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