dow corning oil & gas brochure

8/9/2019 Dow Corning Oil & Gas Brochure

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Dow Corning Oil & Gas Industry Solutions


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Dow Corning Corporation

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Table of Contents

About Dow Corning .....................................................................................................3

Oil and Gas Solutions .................................................................................................4

Section 1: Oil/Water Separation Demulsication .....................................................5

Section 2: Downhole Well Sealing Repair, Abandonment and Zonal Isolation ........ 8

Section 3: Hydrocarbon Foaming .............................................................................12

Section 4: Resin-coated Proppants Interface Modiers............................................ 13

Section 5: Sand/Fines Consolidation ........................................................................ 14

Section 6: Antifoams for Oil Production and Processing ..........................................16

How to Contact Us ....................................................................................................20


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Oil & Gas Industry Solutions

About Dow Corning

Dow Corning Corporation was

established in 1943 specically to

explore the potential of silicones. It

was created as a joint venture between

Corning Glass Works (now Corning,

Incorporated) and The Dow Chemical

Company. Today Dow Corning

provides performance-enhancing

solutions to serve the diverse needs

of more than 20,000 customers

worldwide. A global leader in silicon-

based technology and innovation,

offering more than 7,000 products and services, Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical

Company and Corning, Incorporated.

Headquartered in Midland, Michigan, U.S.A., Dow Corning has more than 45 sites worldwide as well as

over 10,000 employees around the globe.

Combining client services and innovation, Dow Corning is also committed to the principles of sustainability.

The company views sustainability as fundamental to its future success in meeting the needs of customers,

employees and local communities. It has made sustainability a corporate value and is implementing

an approach that covers all three dimensions of sustainable development economic, social and

environmental. The company has long participated in the Responsible Care program, an international

initiative to advance the safe and secure management of chemical products and processes. Dow Corning

uses Responsible Care as a framework for activities including product development, manufacturing,

transportation, usage and waste disposal.

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Oil and Gas Solutions

Dow Corning has had an ongoing commitment to the oil

and gas industry since the early 1970s, resulting in many

product and application innovations.

Recently, new products have extended the application

area for silicones from traditional antifoam into broader

applications.

Dow Corning produces a variety of products for many oil

and gas applications, such as:

Oil/water demulsication

Oil well sealing for repair, abandonment and

zonal isolation

Hydrocarbon foaming

Sand consolidation

Proppant modication and processing aids

Gas/oil separation foam control

Delayed coking foam control

Dow Cornings website, dowcorning.com/oilandgas, has several informative articles and selection

guides covering some of the more established uses for silicon-based technology in the industry, including:

Silicone in the Oil and Gas Industry

Silicone Foam Control for the Oil and Gas Industry

Foam Control Methods in Delayed Cokers

Dow Corning can also offer supportive services and fully integrated solutions tailored to your specic

business needs.

The following sections give more details on some of the newer and emerging applications for silicon-

based technology in upstream oil and gas operations.

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Section 1: Oil/Water Separation Demulsication

Overview

As high-quality crude oil resources become depleted

and heavy crude oil reserves are tapped, the need for

new, efcient and potent demulsiers to resolve difcult

water-in-oil emulsions becomes more important.

Dow Corning provides silicone technology for oil

producers and service companies to improve their

current crude oil demulsication process.

The Dow Corning DMx line of silicone demulsiers

represents a range of different structures and molecular

weights that have been proven effective in water/oil

demulsication.

Silicone polyethers exhibit low surface tension (in some

cases down to 21 dyn/cm compared to 30 dyn/cm

for typical hydrocarbon surfactants in water) and low cohesive energy; they are surface active in both

aqueous and nonaqueous media, and show inverse temperature solubility and cloud point. Some

benets that can be achieved are rapid water drop rate, better interface denition, better water quality,

low-temperature performance and overall improved cost efciency for demulsication operations.

The effectiveness of silicone demulsiers has been demonstrated over the years in the eld, both as

stand-alone additives and as performance boosters to organic-based formulations, in levels between 10

30 wt%, based on formulation active ingredients.

Key Advantages

Rapid water drop rate

Sharp interface denition

Improved water quality

Low-temperature performance

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Case History

Dow Corning worked with a leading oil and gas company to improve their crude oil demulsication

process at their primary offshore platforms in Asia.

The traditional demulsication process involves the use of organic demulsiers at temperatures of 60 to

70C to reduce the water content in the oil stream to about 3-5 percent. These organic demulsiers are

ineffective at lower temperatures. The rm was looking for a solution that would enable them to carry out

the same process at a lower temperature with higher water reduction.

Dow Corning worked with the companys team on various eld trials to screen the DM series. The com-

pany has decided to conduct further bulk trials with one of the DM series products, which enables cleaner

and faster separation of oil and water, and reduces the water content in treated crude up to less than 0.4

percent. In addition, it works effectively at a lower temperature of 40 to 50C, thus enabling considerable

energy and cost savings to the company.

Oilelds conditions

~70 producing wells coming into 4 parallel separators

Medium oil with some wax (controlled by pigging)

Average water cut ~60%

Residence time ~3 min

Temp: 50 - 60C

Pressure: 7-8 kg/cm2

Field Trial Screen Result

Treatment detail Final water content in oil Final oil content in slop water

30 ppm glycol-based 3.0 - 7.2% 100 ppm

~8 ppm Dow Corning DM5 1.6 - 3.6% < 25 ppm

18 ppm glycol-based + 1.5 ppmDow Corning DM5 (Best)

~2% Optimized < 50 ppm

23 ppm glycol-based + 2 ppmDow CorningDM5

1% Demonstrated < 50 ppm


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Product Information

Products Viscosity Flash Point HLB*

cSt or mm2

/s Closed Cup C Equivalent

Dow Corning DM1 1,750 71.5 6.6

Dow Corning DM2 260 113 12.3

Dow Corning DM3 280 83.3 6.6


Dow Corning DM5 310 67.2 9.2


*HLB equivalent = (molecular weight of ethylene oxide/molecular weight of total polymer) x 20.


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Section 2: Downhole Well Sealing Repair, Abandonment and Zonal Isolation

OverviewCement is a common material used

in downhole sealing jobs, and while

cement is well established and

relatively inexpensive, there are

many cases where cement is either

unsuitable or has potential longer-term

problems. For example, cement can

crack or leave annular gaps uponcuring or during normal operations due

to changes in pressure, temperature,

mechanical loading or even due to corrosion. Remedial or squeeze cementing operations are difcult or

impossible due to the particle size of the cement.

Dow Corning and Shell Research developed a silicone elastomer system to help with these problems

several years ago. This work was initially described in SPE 39346 Development of a Novel Silicone

Rubber/Cement Plugging Agent for Cost Effective Through Tubing Well Abandonment by M. Bosma, et al.

This patented silicone elastomer system has many desirable characteristics. For example:

Good thermal range will remain exible and stable from 200C

Good chemical resistance

Cure prole can be varied to give desired working time at job temperature by addition of a

catalyst or cure retarder for example, to get 3 hours working time for the Dow Corning WS

4230 Well Sealant:

- At 30C, no additives are needed to the base formulation

- at 50C, you would add 2.5% Dow Corning WS 4232D Diluted Cure Retarder or 0.25%

Dow Corning WS 4233 Cure Retarder

- at 100C you would add 6.5% Dow CorningWS 4233 Cure Retarder or 0.2%

Dow Corning WS 4234C Concentrated Cure Retarder

- at 135C you would add 1.3% Dow CorningWS 4234C Concentrated Cure Retarder

Swell slightly in oil, which can lead to an even better seal

Cure is not signicantly affected by contaminants (oils, muds, etc.), at least up to the 5-10% level

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Supplied as a liquid, two-part, cure-in-place system. The addition cure chemistry relies on no

outside materials (such as moisture) to initiate cure and doesnt have any cure byproducts.

It is worth noting that strong acids (sulfuric, concentrated HCl, etc.) or bases (concentrated

KOH, etc.) can degrade the elastomer over time, particularly at higher temperatures. Also

at high temperatures, the elastomer is hydrolytically unstable and can degrade over time.

Since this latter case is quite common downhole, additional work was done to understand this

phenomenon.

Since degradation requires contact with destabilizing material, the rate should be diffusion controlled. A

multiyear study was undertaken to determine the diffusion coefcients and then to validate the theory with

application simulation results. The following chart illustrates the expected degradation rate based on the

diffusion coefcients. Experimental results from the exposure study match up well.

Example 2 below illustrates how this can apply in practice to a P&A application.

Example 1 below illustrates a typical operation for secondary/remedial sealing using Dow Corning

WS4235UF Unlled Well Sealant. This is an application where cement has a low success rate due to the

difculty of squeezing a solids-containing slurry. Note that this operation could also be performed with a

top-down squeeze.

Field trials to date have been a combination of these two examples, most for annular gas to the surface in

previously abandoned wells. All re-abandonments with this system were successful on the rst try. More

details on these trials are available.

Diffusion-controlled depolymerization

Time, years

Fa

ilure,meters

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

0 5 10 15 20 25

25C

100C

200C


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Example Applications

Example 1: Damaged Casing and Annular Seal (Squeeze Cementing/ Sealing)

Example 2: Theoretical Example of Hydrolytic Degradation over Time in aPlugging and Abandonment Application

A. Damaged casing

B. Through tubing squeeze ofDow Corning WS 4235UF Unlled Well Sealant

C. Circulate or drill out to resume production

A. Well plugged with 5m ofDow CorningWS 4230 Well Sealant (red) + cement (gray).

Conditions are 100C, primarily brine with residual oil left in contact with the silicone seal

B. After 10 years, the brine has penetrated about 0.75m into the seal

C. After 20 years, the brine has penetrated just over 1 m into the seal, still leaving almost

4 meters ofDow CorningWS 4230 Well Sealant to act as a positive seal to prevent

uids migration, even if the cement has cracked or otherwise failed


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Dow CorningWS 4235UF Unlled Well Sealantready to be pumped

Well Sealing System Product Summary

Product Selection

Products Description Specication Application

Dow CorningWS4230 Well Sealant

Two-part lledsilicone elastomer

Mixed viscosity is ~2000 cSt

Specic gravity =1.35

Silica ller is nominally 5micron particle size

Sealing larger spaces,such as in plugging andabandonment

Dow CorningWS4235UF UnlledWell Sealant

Two-part lledsilicone elastomer

Mixed viscosity is ~300 cSt

Specic gravity = 0.97

Squeeze sealing, such asin zonal isolation andsecondary / remedialcementing

Dow CorningWS4232D Diluted CureRetarder

Cure retarder For use at low - moderatetemperatures to achievedesired working times

Dow CorningWS4233 Cure Retarder

Cure retarder For use at moderate - hightemperatures to achievedesired working times

Dow CorningWS4234C ConcentratedCure Retarder

Cure retarder For use at hightemperatures to achievedesired working times

Syl-Off4000 Catalyst For use at very lowtemperatures to achievedesired working times

Dow CorningQ3-3522

Cleaning solvent Clean cured/uncuredsilicone elastomers fromsurfaces


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Section 3: Hydrocarbon Foaming

Overview

There are multiple applications

in the oil and gas industries

that involve the need to

generate hydrocarbon-based

foam, such as oil-based uids

for underbalanced foam drilling

and gas well deliquication.

Dow Corning technology can

be used to generate foam in a

broad range of hydrocarbons.

There are technology options

available for pure hydrocarbon systems as well as hydrocarbon/brine systems.

Key Advantages

The key advantages of silicone-based foaming agents:

Higher temperature resistance than many organic materials Ability to create foam in system with up to 100% hydrocarbon

Non-uorinated

Product Information

Dow Corning 1250 Surfactant is known in patent literature to be an effective foaming agent in oil-based

drilling uids

Developmental products now available for evaluation:

Dow Corning HCF-105 Dev Additive



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Section 4: Resin-coated Proppants Interface Modiers

Overview

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique

used in gas and oil wells to increase

the permeability of zones to enhance

production. It is a standard practice

used today as wells get older and

permeability decreases or new wells

are being drilled in less permeable

formations. The process includes

creating a fracture, or ssure, in lowpermeable zones, lling the fracture

with proppants that pack and hold the fractures open, all yielding an enhanced permeable pathway to the

wellbore for the oil or gas.

In recent years, resin-coated proppants have seen an increase in usage because they have demonstrated

a higher crush resistance and demonstrated less nes migration, which leads to improved conductivity. As

new proppants develop, resin-coated proppants continue to evolve and become more specialized to

specic wells and the geological conditions downhole. The resin technology is also being engineered to

meet the needs of deeper wells, which translate to higher pressures and temperature environmental

conditions that the proppant must be able to withstand.

Dow Corning provides silicon-based technology that can enhance the performance of the resin technology

used in proppants with targeted benets in adhesion of the resin and compressive strength enhancement,

as well as processing aids to improve ow and anticaking performance. We supply a wide range of

products with different functionalities to address the needs of our customers.

Our Key Advantages

Dow Corning brand proppants additives can enhance the performance of a resin-coated proppant.

Increase to compression strength of resin and formation

Compatibility with many resinous matrices

Improve adhesion between coating and neat proppant

Lubricity / Anticaking

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Section 5: Sand/Fines Consolidation

When hydrocarbons are recovered from subterranean formations, which are comprised of poorly consolidated

or unconsolidated sandstones, free sand and very small particles called nes can be carried away with

the hydrocarbons and transported to the surface. This often results in negative effects such as plugging of

the formations pores and/or erosion of the equipment. These adverse effects on well productivity and

equipment are costly sources of well damage that are often sought to be mitigated.

Different methods have been developed for preventing or addressing the effects linked to the migration of

nes and the related formation damage, including sand/gravel packing, screens, slotted liners, maximum

sand-free production rate, sand consolidation and various combinations of these methods.

Sand consolidation is a process involving the injection of a reactive chemical into a naturally unconsolidated

formation. The chemicals purpose is to bind the sand particles that make up the formation matrix while

maintaining sufcient permeability to achieve viable production rates.

Various sets of chemistry have been investigated for sand consolidation, among them organosilanes,

which have demonstrated benecial effects such as increased compression strength of the formation.

This class of materials can be simply ushed into a formation and due to their ability to rapidly hydrolyze

once in contact with aqueous solutions, organosilanes can easily form in-situ silanol species that will

condensate with each other and with any other hydroxyl sites on the surface of the mineral particles. This

results in a Si-O-Si network that will bind the siliceous material to the formation. Organosilane materials

also have been demonstrated to enhance the adhesion and compression performance of organic resins

used for consolidating sand formations.

In addition, their low bioaccumulation and high biodegradability prole make these chemicals

environmentally acceptable.

Dow Corning provides silicon-based technology that can chemically bind with the particles and provide

and enhance performance. We supply a wide range of organosilanes with different functionalities to

address the needs of our customers.


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Our Key Advantages

Ease of processing

Increase the compressive strength of the formation

Lessens nes migration

Lessens nes swellability

Environmentally acceptable

Product Information

Material Functionality SpecicGravity at 25C

Viscosity(cSt)

Resin Compatibility

Dow Corning

PP-11 amino / ethoxy 1.03 5 Novolac and Resol PhenolicSystems**, Furan, UreaFormaldehyde, Epoxy

Dow CorningPP-20

amino / methoxy 0.946 1.06 Novolac and Resol PhenolicSystems**, Furan, UreaFormaldehyde, Epoxy

Dow CorningPP-40

glycidoxy / methoxy 1.07 3 Novolac and Resol PhenolicSystems, Furan, Urea

Formaldehyde, Epoxy**

** Preferential Resin System


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Section 6: Antifoams for Oil Production and Processing

Foam is a Problem

From the well head, through rening, processing and even during shipment of the nished product, foam

can cause major problems in the production and rening of oil. Foam robs you of capacity and makes

your production process less efcient. It causes cavitation in pumps and excessive process fouling.

Waste, maintenance costs and processing time go up, while productivity goes down.

Silicone Foam Control is the Solution

Silicone foam control agents from Dow Corning eliminate process foam in production, renery and gas

processing plants. Eliminating process foam can increase your productivity, reduce your production costs

and, consequently, save you money.

Dow Corning has been involved in foam control for the petroleum industry for more than 50 years and has

a wide range of foam control products available for almost every foaming need. Dow Cornings website,

dowcorning.com, has several informative articles and selection guides covering some of the more

established uses for silicon-based technology in the industry, including:

Silicone Foam Control for the Oil and Gas Industry

The following are short descriptions of a few applications where silicone antifoams are commonly

used today.

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Gas-Oil Separation Certain crudes tend to foam while undergoing depressurization to release

entrapped gas. This tendency can severely limit output and is especially severe on offshore rigs where

vessel size is limited and special foaming problems can occur. Using as little as 1 to 5 parts per million

silicone antifoam from Dow Corning can help you maintain maximum separator capacity and well output.

There are many different options ofDow Corning brand silicone antifoams that can be used in gas/oil

separators. Most of these neat antifoams are of quite high viscosity and can be supplied as a concentrate

for ease of handling. We can customize a blend of selected silicone-based uids and solvents to meet

your needs, exactly. Save costs and time by choosing the right blend.

Typical 3-Phase Gas-Oil Separator Unit

The antifoam is typically metered into the crude oil inlet line either upstream (preferred) or immediately

downstream of the choke valve. Continuous addition at low levels is typically the most effective from both

performance and cost standpoints. Whether its for typical foam problems in low/medium GOR environments

or a more persistent foaming problem often seen in high GOR or heavy oil situations, the Dow Corning

range of silicone antifoams has proven effective in solving foaming problems.


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Gas Scrubbing Gas scrubbers used to remove CO2

and H2S from gases are prone to foam. Such

processes are commonly used for natural gas, renery gas, in gas treatment as a part of reforming, in

ethylene production (steam cracking) and in the production of ethylene oxide. Trace impurities, such as

liquid hydrocarbons, well-head inhibitors, corrosion solids and valve greases in the incoming gas can

cause foam regardless of which absorbent (MDEA, DEA, TEA and DGA or carbonate solution) is used.

Foaming can cause poor separation efciency and reduced throughput, as well as loss of expensive

absorbent by carry-over. The foam can be controlled by feeding Dow Corningsilicone antifoam into the

absorber/contactor and regenerator columns.

The antifoam is typically metered into either the column reux line (after any lters) or into the column

feed line. It is generally preferred to add the antifoam into a reux stream immediately before a pump to

maximize mixing and dispersion in the system, as shown in the below system diagram. Since some of thedefoamer is removed by the lters, it is usually added to both columns.

Recommended Use of Silicone Antifoams

SWEET GAS

OUTLET

SCRUBBER

ACID

GAS

CONTACTOR

Antifoam

CHARGE

PUMP

AMINE

COOLER

BOOSTER

REFLUX

CONDENSER

REFLUXPUMP

REFLUX

ACCUMULATOR

CHARCOAL

DRAIN

REBOILER

RECLAIMER

SOLIDSFILTER

FLASH

GAS

SOUR

GAS

INLET

SCRUBBER

REGENERATOR

FILTER

PUMP

Antifoam

FLASH TANK

OR SKIMMER


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Product Information for Gas Scrubbers:

Dow Corning 1410 / DB-110A: Recommended dose: 10 100 ppm

Dow Corning 1430 / DB-310: Recommended dose: 5 50 ppm

Dow Corning 2-3316 Silicone Organic Antifoam: Recommended dose:


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How to Contact Us

Dow Corning has sales ofces, manufacturing sites, as well as science and technology laboratories around the globe.

Telephone numbers of locations near you are available at dowcorning.com/oilandgas.

Chat with an expert online.

Live Help is available at: dowcorning.com/content/support

Or contact us at: dowcorning.com/ContactUs

LIMITED WARRANTY INFORMATION PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

The information contained herein is offered in good faith and is believed to be accurateHowever, because conditions and methods of use of our products are beyond our controlthis information should not be used in substitution for customers tests to ensure that ouproducts are safe, effective and fully satisfactory for the intended end use. Suggestionof use shall not be taken as inducements to infringe any patent.

Dow Cornings sole warranty is that our products will meet the sales specications ieffect at the time of shipment.

Your exclusive remedy for breach of such warranty is limited to refund of purchase priceor replacement of any product shown to be other than as warranted.

DOW CORNING SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY OTHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIEDWARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR MERCHANTABILITY

DOW CORNING DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.

Front Cover Photo: AV12204Dow Corningis a registered trademark of Dow Corning Corporation.

Syl-Offis a registered trademark of Dow Corning Corporation.

We help you invent the future is a trademark of Dow Corning Corporation.

All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners.

2009 Dow Corning Corporation. All rights reserved.

Printed in USA AGP9981 Form No. 26-1686A-0

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