Epoxy-based LCM compositions with controlled viscosity and methods of treating a lost circulation zone of a wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11370956-B2
Application number	US-201916718784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 18, 2019
Publication date	Jun 28, 2022
Grant date	Jun 28, 2022

Abstract

Lost circulation material (LCM) compositions for sealing lost circulation zones in wellbores may include an epoxy resin, a curing agent, an amide accelerator, and calcium carbonate having an average particle size of from 1,000 microns to 10,000 micron. The epoxy resin includes at least one of 2,3-epoxypropyl-o-tolyl ether, C12-C14 alkyl glycidyl ether, 1,6-hexanediol diglycidyl ether, butyl glycidyl ether, or cyclohexanedimethanol diglycidyl ether. The epoxy resin can also include bisphenol-A-epichlorohydrin epoxy resin. Methods of treating a lost circulation zone of a wellbore include injecting the LCM compositions into the lost circulation zone and curing the LCM compositions, where the LCM compositions include an epoxy resin, a curing agent, an amide accelerator, and calcium carbonate having an average particle size of from 1,000 microns to 10,000 microns.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lost circulation material (LCM) composition for sealing lost circulation zones in wellbores, the LCM composition comprising:
an epoxy resin consisting of at least one of 2,3-epoxypropyl-o-tolyl ether, C12-C14 alkyl glycidyl ether, 1,6-hexanediol diglycidyl ether and combinations thereof;
a curing agent;
an amide accelerator;
calcium carbonate having an average particle size that enables the LCM compositions to be injected into the lost circulation zone and that increases the viscosity of the LCM composition after injection to block the pores of the lost circulation zone, wherein the average particle size of the calcium carbonate is from 1,000 microns to 10,000 microns.

2. The LCM composition of claim 1 in which the calcium carbonate comprises calcium carbonate flakes.

3. The LCM composition of claim 1 comprising from 20 weight percent to 80 weight percent calcium carbonate based on the total weight of the LCM composition.

4. The LCM composition of claim 2 in which the calcium carbonate flakes have an average particle size of from 4,000 microns to 10,000 microns.

5. The LCM composition of claim 1 in which the amide accelerator comprises at least one of an amide, a polyamide, a tall oil fatty amide, a fatty polyamide, a carboxylic acid terminated fatty polyamide, a polyaminated fatty acid, an amidoamine, fatty amidoamine, a polyamidoamine, a polyolefin amide alkene amine, or combinations of these.

6. The LCM composition of claim 1 in which the amide accelerator is a polyaminated fatty acid.

7. The LCM composition of claim 6 in which the polyaminated fatty acid has the chemical formula (IX):
R 8 —CO—NH—CH 2 —CH 2 —N(COR 8 )—CH 2 —CH 2 —NH—CO—R 9   (IX)

where R 8 is a hydrocarbyl group and R 9 is a hydrocarbyl group or an alkylene carboxylate group having formula —R 10 —COOH, where R 10 is a saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbylene.

8. The LCM composition of claim 1 further comprising bisphenol-A-epichlorohydrin epoxy resin.

9. The LCM composition of claim 8 further comprising a reactive diluent comprising oxirane mono [(C12-C14)-alkyloxy) methyl] derivatives.

10. The LCM composition of claim 1 in which the curing agent comprises at least one of at least one of trimethyl hexamethylene diamine (TMD), diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), meta-xylenediamine (MXDA), aminoethylpiperazine (AEP), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), polyetheramine, isophoronediamine (IPDA), beta-hydroxyalkyl amide (HAA), diethyltoluenediamine (DETDA), polyoxypropylene diamine, or combinations of these.

11. The LCM composition of claim 1 comprising from 0.1 weight percent to 20 weight percent amide accelerator based on the total weight of the LCM composition before curing.

12. The LCM composition of claim 1 comprising from 15 weight percent to 70 weight percent epoxy resin based on the total weight of the LCM composition before curing.

13. The LCM composition of claim 1 comprising from 1 weight percent to 30 weight percent curing agent based on the total weight of the LCM composition before curing.

14. A method of treating a lost circulation zone of a wellbore, the method comprising:
injecting the lost circulation material (LCM) composition of claim 1 into the lost circulation zone; and
curing the LCM composition in the lost circulation zone to produce a barrier operable to prevent wellbore fluids from passing into the lost circulation zone.

15. The method of claim 14 where the LCM composition comprises from 20 weight percent to 80 weight percent calcium carbonate based on the total weight of the LCM composition.

16. The method of claim 14 in which the lost circulation zone is a high-injectivity zone having a fluid loss rate of from 100 barrels per hour to 1000 barrels per hour or an injectivity factor of less than or equal to 4000 pounds of force per square inch * min per barrel, in which a barrel is equal to 42 United States (U.S.) Gallons and the injectivity factor is defined as the quotient of the injection pressure in pounds of force per square inch divided by the injection rate in barrels per minute.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising introducing a spacer fluid into the lost circulation zone before introducing the LCM composition.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising introducing a displacement fluid after the LCM composition to displace the LCM composition into the lost circulation zone.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising drilling through at least a portion of the barrier formed by the cured LCM composition to continue drilling the wellbore.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Alanqari Khawlah A
• Al-Yami Abdullah
• Wagle Vikrant
• Alsafran Ali

Classifications

• C09K8/508

  macromolecular compounds {(C09K8/512 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E21B33/138

  Plastering the borehole wall; Injecting into the formation · CPC title

• C09K8/5045

  containing inorganic compounds · CPC title

• C08G59/686 Primary

  containing nitrogen · CPC title

• C08G59/223

  together with monoepoxy compounds · CPC title