Method of controlling water production through treating particles with RPMS

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9303502-B2
Application number	US-60646409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2009
Priority date	Oct 27, 2009
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

Water production from a subterranean formation is inhibited or controlled by pumping a fluid containing coated particles through a wellbore into the formation. The particles have been previously coated with a relative permeability modifier (RPM). Upon contact with water, the RPM coating expands or swells and inhibits and controls the production of water. The RPM may be a water hydrolyzable polymer having a weight average molecular weight greater than 100,000. The particles may be conventional proppants or gravel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling water production from a subterranean formation comprising:
introducing particles coated with a relative permeability modifier (RPM) into a subterranean formation through a wellbore, where the RPM is a crosslinked water hydrolyzable polymer having a weight average molecular weight greater than 100,000, and where the particles are selected from the group consisting of glass beads, ceramic beads, metal beads, bauxite grains, walnut shell fragments, aluminum pellets, nylon pellets and combinations thereof; wherein the crosslinked water hydrolyzable polymer is selected from the group consisting of:
crosslinked polysiloxanes, copolymers of vinylamide monomers and monomers containing ammonium or quaternary ammonium moieties; and
copolymers of vinylamide monomers and monomers comprising vinylcarboxylic acid monomers and/or vinylsulfonic acid monomers, and salts thereof, and wherein these vinyl amide copolymers comprise a crosslinking monomer selected from the group consisting of diallylamine, N,N-diallylacrylamide, divinyloxyethane, and divinyldimethylsilane; and

contacting the coated particles with water, causing swelling of the RPM thereby inhibiting water flow.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising coating the particles with the RPM to form coated particles and mixing the coated particles with a carrier fluid prior to introducing the particles into the subterranean formation.

3. The method of claim 1 where the RPM loading ranges from one pound of RPM per about 100 to about 5000 pounds of particles (1 kilogram of RPM per about 100 to about 5000 kilograms of particles).

4. The method of claim 1 where the particles range in size from about 10 mesh to about 200 mesh (from about 2000 microns to about 75 microns).

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises coating the particles with the RPM, wherein coating the particles with the RPM comprises:
at least partially hydrolyzing the RPM in a liquid selected from the group consisting of water, brine, glycol, ethanol and mixtures thereof;
contacting the particles with the liquid; and
at least partially vaporizing the liquid.

6. A method of controlling water production from a subterranean formation comprising:
introducing particles coated with a relative permeability modifier (RPM) into a subterranean formation through a wellbore where the particles range in size from about 10 mesh to about 200 mesh (from about 2000 microns to about 75 microns), where the RPM loading ranges from one pound of RPM per about 100 to about 5000 pounds of particles (1 kilogram of RPM per about 100 to about 5000 kilograms of particles), where the RPM is a crosslinked water hydrolyzable polymer and where the particles are selected from the group consisting of glass beads, ceramic beads, metal beads, bauxite grains, walnut shell fragments, aluminum pellets, nylon pellets and combinations thereof; wherein the crosslinked water hydrolyzable polymer is selected from the group consisting of:
crosslinked polysiloxanes; and
copolymers of vinylamide monomers and monomers containing ammonium or quaternary ammonium moieties, copolymers of vinylamide monomers and monomers comprising vinylcarboxylic acid monomers and/or vinylsulfonic acid monomers, and salts thereof, and wherein these vinyl amide copolymers comprise a crosslinking monomer selected from the group consisting of-diallylamine, N,N-diallylacrylamide, divinyloxyethane, and divinyldimethylsilane; and

contacting the coated particles with water, causing swelling of the RPM thereby inhibiting water flow;

wherein the method further comprises coating the particles with the RPM, wherein coating the particles with the RPM comprises:
at least partially hydrolyzing the RPM in a liquid selected from the group consisting of water, brine, glycol, ethanol and mixtures thereof;
contacting the particles with the liquid; and
at least partially vaporizing the liquid.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising mixing the coated particles with a carrier fluid prior to introducing the particles into the subterranean formation.

8. The method of claim 6 where the crosslinked water hydrolyzable polymer has a weight average molecular weight greater than 100,000.

Assignees

• Huang Tianping
• Crews James B
• Willingham John R
• Baker Hughes Inc

Inventors

• Huang Tianping
• Crews James B
• Willingham John R

Classifications

• E21B43/32 Primary

  Preventing gas- or water-coning phenomena, i.e. the formation of a conical column of gas or water around wells · CPC title

• C09K8/805 Primary

  Coated proppants · CPC title

• E21B43/267

  reinforcing fractures by propping · CPC title

• C09K8/508

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

• C04B20/1033

  obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds · CPC title