American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2024 - 70

SpecialReport: Chemistry Solutions
stream or puddle, it is not going to start
releasing, so there is no need to stop the
operation or call a Hazmat team. "
Next Steps
While he expresses pride in today's
solid chemical capabilities, Todd suggests
they still have plenty of room for improvement.
He says EES is in a good position
to unlock some of that potential
thanks to a change in management.
" In July 2024, we had a complete
turnover in upper management. Our new
board of directors and CEO, Gerald
" Jerry " Eaton, are bringing in intellectual
property to enhance our capabilities and
helping us broaden sales areas, " he explains.
" Jerry has more than 40 years of
experience in the oil and gas industry
and is a leading authority on pipeline
drag reducers. He has several patents on
these products and is bringing this technology
to EES. "
The new team is investigating how to
mill solid chemical carriers in house,
Todd says. " This will let us experiment
with different types of carriers, then mill
the finished product down to exactly the
particle size we need, " he enthuses. " That
should improve the activity level and
consistency. "
In the past, Todd says, the company
had to buy materials from other industries
and settle for substances that approximated
its parameters. In some cases, it abandoned
otherwise promising material because of
size limitations.
" Particle size can be significant, " Todd
emphasizes. " In a completion application,
our solids go in with the sand and water.
If they are too large, the sand will crush
them, but if they are too fine, they will
fall before they reach the perforation.
" With more control over particle size,
we should be able to engineer the solid
chemicals to reach the perforation and
travel as far back into the formation as
possible, " Todd illustrates. " As the treatment
releases, it will interact with the
formation rather than washing over a
specific point, which should enhance its
effectiveness. "
Augmenting Acid
When wells age or fall short of expectations,
it can be tempting to try restimulating
them with hydrochloric acid, says
Michael Lantz, co-founder and president
of Kairos Energy Services. After all, HCL
has a long history of success in vertical
wells, where it can increase permeability
by dissolving carbonates and scale.
But in many shale plays, Lantz cautions,
traditional acid treatments deliver
inconsistent results. Acid excels at dissolving
carbonates and some scales, but
often has a limited effect on formations
that are made from other minerals. When
reservoirs do contain carbonates, the sheer
volume required to contact them can add
too much cost for acid to be economic,
he explains. To improve consistency in
shales, Lantz recommends pairing a much
smaller amount of acid with a chemical
blend that is designed to address multiple
damage mechanisms.
" With this approach, operators often
see a 30%-60% increase in production
rates and an uplift in estimated ultimate
recovery around 30%, " he reports. " On
average, payback occurs in four months. "
According to Lantz, the treatment
works by achieving several goals simultaneously.
" First and foremost, we utilize
surfactants to alter wettability, improve
relative permeability to oil and gas, and
clean up the fractures, " he begins. " In
many wells, we also try to deal with
gummy bears, scale or paraffin. "
To maximize the chemistry's effectiveness,
Kairos relies on diverters, Lantz
notes. " We can distribute the treatments
across fractures by pumping higher volumes,
but that is costly, especially in a
long horizontal, " he says. " Diverters let
us contact each frac stage more efficiently
and reliably. "
Diversion can be so impactful that
Lantz indicates Kairos is refining its
approach. " Previously, we used polylactic
acid-based diverters by themselves, "
he recounts. " PLA diverters
are rigid particles of various sizes. For
them to work well, the sizes need to be
70 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2024

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