Research theme: Production Chemistry/Scale

Production Chemistry/Scale

Projects and collaboration with other themes

• Centre for Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (CESEM)
• Intelligent Well and Fields systems Technology (IWFsT)
• Flow Assurance & Scale (FAST)
• Produced Water Reinjection

Theme lead: Prof. Ken Sorbie

The Production Chemistry Group carries out research on increasing the production efficiency of oil and gas wells. The main consortium project in this area is the Flow Assurance and Scale Team (FAST) Joint Industry Project.

The FAST consortium is widely recognized as the world leading research activity in Oilfield Scale prevention. FAST develops software (SQUEEZE VI) based on fundamental laboratory studies that is used to design field scale inhibitor treatments worldwide (applied in 100s fields and 1000s of wells).

The experimental methods designed by FAST over the years are summarised in their Laboratory Procedures Manual (Edition 4, 2006) which is a standard in the oil industry. The current FAST JIP is funded by 18 companies and the team is following a range of fundamental and applied topics including synchrotron studies of the crystal growth and inhibition, sulphide scale prevention, naphthenate formation, scale inhibitor transport modelling and kinetics of barite deposition.

The group has extensive core flooding and chemical analytical facilities including two ICP machines, HPLC and extensive access to IPE's Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy facility, where novel porous media rock wettability results are observed.