Screening and Investigation on Inhibition of Sediment Formation in a Kuwait Light Crude Oil by Commercial Additives with Some Guidelines for Field Applications

The precipitation of asphaltene and waxes occurs when crude oil characteristics change as a consequence of pressure, temperature variations, and/or chemical modifications, etc. The costs associated with the cleaning of deposition on the production equipment and the loss of profit opportunities can go beyond hundreds of millions of USD. Thus, there is a strong incentive to search for ways to mitigate deposit formation during the crude production process. A light crude bottom hole fluid sample from a deep well with an asphaltene deposition problem was analyzed in the laboratory. Basic data on density, viscosity, bubble point, GOR, and asphaltene onset pressure were measured at a PVT laboratory. Asphaltene characterization, as a prescreening for appropriate inhibitors, has been conducted using asphaltene phase diagrams (APD). The APD generated from two developed software programs in both Matlab and Excel codes were favorably compared with the phase behavior of other oil samples available in the literature and has shown to be an excellent match. Various test methods were used to demonstrate the asphaltene instability of the oil samples. Eleven chemical inhibitors from five global companies were screened for testing to inhibit the precipitation. The optimum concentration and the amount of reduction in precipitation were determined for all of these chemicals to identify the most suitable chemicals. Finally, some recommendations are given for the field application of chemicals.

Automated summary

The formation of asphaltene and waxes occurs due to changes in crude oil characteristics. Mitigating deposit formation is crucial due to the high costs associated with equipment cleaning and profit loss. A laboratory analysis of a crude sample with asphaltene deposition problem was conducted, and various chemical inhibitors were screened for their effectiveness in inhibiting precipitation.