Treating a Formation with a Chemical Agent and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) De-Liquefied at a Wellsite

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019264097-A1
Application number	US-201616334707-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 11, 2016
Priority date	Nov 11, 2016
Publication date	Aug 29, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and system of treating a formation and a well extending therethrough, including storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at an on-site location of the well, injecting a first stream of LNG into the formation through the well to contact at least one of a surface of the formation or a metal surface locatable in the well, injecting a chemical agent into the formation through the well to contact at least one of the surface of the formation or the metal surface locatable in the well, and treating at least one of the surface of the formation or the metal surface locatable in the well with the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of treating a formation and a well extending therethrough, comprising:
storing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at an on-site location of the well; injecting a first stream of LNG into the formation through the well to contact at least one of a surface of the formation or a metal surface locatable in the well; injecting a chemical agent into the formation through the well to contact at least one of the surface of the formation or the metal surface locatable in the well; and treating at least one of the surface of the formation or the metal surface locatable in the well with the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid (HCl), formic acid, acetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, hydrocholoride salts (HCl-adducts), N-phosphonomethyliminodiacetic acid (PMIDA), methylglycinediacetic acid (MGDA), glutamic acid N,N-diacetic acid (GLDA), hydroxyethyl ethylenediamine triacetic acid (HEDTA), citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, surfactants, emulsions, microemulsions, chelating agents, diverting agents, corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, foaming agents, and chemically-active nanoparticles and particulates.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the treating of the metal surface with the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG comprises controlling a rate of corrosion in the well.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an injection rate of the first stream of LNG to control a rate of corrosion in the well.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the treating of the formation with the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG comprises one of a pre-fracturing treatment, fracture cleaning-out treatment, scale and deposit removal treatment, and emulsion removal treatment.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising injecting the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG into a near wellbore region of the formation.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising admixing the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG before injecting the chemical agent and the LNG into a near wellbore region of the formation.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the LNG at the on-site location as a cryogenic fluid at or below a temperature of about −260 Fahrenheit (° F.) (−162 Celsius (° C.)).

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
de-liquefying a second stream of LNG into natural gas at the on-site location; and injecting the natural gas into the formation to pressurize a reservoir volume of the formation.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
pumping a third stream of the LNG at a fracturing pressure; and injecting the third stream of pressurized LNG into the well as a fracturing fluid to fracture the formation.

11 . A system for treating a formation with a well therethrough, comprising
a source of liquefied natural gas (LNG) located at an on-site location of the well and useable to supply the LNG; a chemical agent source usable to supply a chemical agent; a mixer located at the on-site location in fluid communication with the source of the LNG and the chemical agent source and configured to admix a first stream of LNG and the chemical agent to form a treatment mixture; and treatment injection equipment located at the on-site location and in fluid communication with the well to inject the treatment mixture into the well, the treatment mixture to treat a surface of the formation or a metal surface locatable in the well.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the chemical agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid (HCl), formic acid, acetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, hydrocholoride salts (HCl-adducts), N-phosphonomethyliminodiacetic acid (PMIDA), methylglycinediacetic acid (MGDA), glutamic acid N,N-diacetic acid (GLDA), hydroxyethyl ethylenediamine triacetic acid (HEDTA), citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, surfactants, emulsions, microemulsions, and chelating agents.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the chemical agent is further selected from a group consisting of diverting agents, corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, foaming agents, chemically-active nanoparticles and particulates.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the source of LNG comprises a storage container and cooling system to store and maintain the LNG at or below a temperature of about −260 Fahrenheit (° F.) (−162 Celsius (° C.)).

15 . The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a cryogenic system located at the on-site location and comprising a pumping unit and a heating unit configured to de-liquefy a second stream of LNG to form natural gas; natural gas injection equipment comprising a pump configured to inject the natural gas into a reservoir volume of the formation; and wherein the injected natural gas pressurizes the reservoir volume.

16 . A method of treating a formation with a well therethrough, comprising:
injecting a first stream of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a second stream of LNG into the well; injecting a chemical agent into the well; injecting a fracturing fluid into the well; treating at least one of a surface of the formation and a metal surface locatable in the well with the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG; and fracturing the formation with the fracturing fluid and the second stream of the LNG to increase recovery of fluids from the formation.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
admixing the chemical agent and the first stream of LNG to form a treatment mixture; and injecting the treatment mixture into the well to treat at least one of the surface of the formation and the metal surface locatable in the well.

18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising adjusting a rate of the first stream of LNG injected into the well to control a rate of the corrosion in the well.

19 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising admixing the fracturing fluid and the second stream of LNG before injecting the fracturing fluid and the second stream of LNG into the well to fracture the formation.

20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising transporting the LNG to the on-site location of the well and storing the LNG as a cryogenic fluid at or below a temperature of about −260 Fahrenheit (° F.) (−162 Celsius (° C.)).

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Dusterhoft Ronald G
• Stegent Neil A
• Reyes Enrique A
• Walser Doug W

Classifications

• C09K2208/32

  Anticorrosion additives · CPC title

• C09K8/52

  Compositions for preventing, limiting or eliminating depositions, e.g. for cleaning · CPC title

• C09K2208/10

  Nanoparticle-containing well treatment fluids · CPC title

• E21B43/255

  including the injection of a gaseous medium as treatment fluid into the formation · CPC title

• C09K8/528

  inorganic depositions, e.g. sulfates or carbonates · CPC title