American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012 - 190

Production Technology
through reliable fluid pressure, temperature
and internal motor temperature measurements help reduce subcool and steam-tooil ratios.
"The integrated system monitors pressures and temperatures at the intake,
where the fluid is going into the pumps,"
he says. "This is critical, because if operators understand how fluid is behaving
at the intake, they can control the pump
properly and keep production as stable
as possible or shut down if necessary.
This helps the system withstand unstable
production environments that are typical
of heavy oil operations and accompanying
steam-assisted recovery."
The ESP system achieved third-party
qualification at C-FER Technology laboratories in Canada, with collaboration
and sponsorship by ConocoPhillips. It
also has undergone extensive field testing
in SAGD fields in Canada and steamfloods
in Oman, Peric reports. "The criteria set
for field testing was in excess of 2,000
cumulative running days for eight operators, and the objective was surpassed. To
date, individual units have passed 400
days at the highest possible well temperatures," he relates.
VOC-Free Friction Reducer
Reef Services, a subsidiary of Rockwater Energy Solutions Inc., continues
to break ground with the development of

a volatile organic compound (VOC)-free
friction reducing polymer for fracture
stimulations and secondary recovery.
"'Green' advances in water treatment
for oil and gas operators are a large part
of our strategy," says Clay Baten, president
and chief executive officer of Reef Services. "The FRG 4700™ polymer is highly
effective and carries the same type of
friction reduction as other conventional
friction reduction agents," he explains.
Baten notes that the polymer was developed to comply with stringent European
standards for environmental products. "It
can achieve a 60 percent friction reduction
without having any VOCs," he remarks.
"The only other VOC-free friction reducers
on the market are powdered polymers
and water continuous emulsions."
The primary application of the FRG
4700 has been as an additive for fracturing;
however, Baten reports that the company
is preparing to apply FRG 4700 to a
major polymer flood in western Canada.
"The primary target area is friction reduction in frac jobs, but there are numerous
potential applications for this green technology," he elaborates. "It meets or exceeds
the performance of traditional friction
reducers. In fact, the hydration rate of
FRG 4700 exceeds the rates of other
types of friction reducing agents."
In addition to the FRG 4700 polymer,
Baten announces that Reef Services is

Ferguson-Beauregard's new iChem™ solar-powered, seal-less diaphragm injection
pump is designed to maintain precise and consistent chemical injection on producing
gas wells to improve performance and reduce maintenance requirements.

190 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

preparing to introduce its first biodegradable friction reducer. "Developing a VOCfree polymer came first because there
was strong demand for it in the market,"
he states. "However, we have many other
green technologies that we are developing.
Our goal is to generate completely
biodegradable products for every application."
The company offers green chemical
products to treat corrosion, scale, paraffin
and asphaltenes, including SIG 746™, a
scale inhibitor that was unveiled in fourth
quarter 2011. "There are increasing pressures on the industry to apply green
chemicals, but they have to be effective,"
Baten relates. "The end-user always looks
at cost and performance. Our green scale
inhibitor is cost effective and operators
are seeing good performance in the field.
That is the key."
Diaphragm Injection Pump
Ferguson-Beauregard's new iChem™
solar-powered chemical injection pump
is designed to consistently inject an accurate volume of chemical into gas wells,
thereby enabling a high degree of predictability in monthly chemical usage,
tubular corrosion rate and even natural
gas production, explains Business Development Manager David Cosby.
Prior to designing iChem, FergusonBeauregard identified user needs by conducting interviews with engineers, supervisors, foremen and field technicians
at 22 natural gas production companies
in the United States and Canada, says
Cosby. "Inconsistent chemical injection
volumes, frequent pump maintenance and
emission concerns were the major issues,"
he reports.
Pump maintenance challenges include
piston and spring corrosion, premature
seal failure, dried packing in low-moisture
environments, overtightened packing,
and regulator damage from frozen moisture in gas steams, Cosby elaborates.
He also notes that gas-powered pumps
used to inject chemicals into well bores
release potentially harmful emissions
with each pump cycle. These issues lead
to potentially negative environmental
impacts; frequent pump inspection, adjustment and maintenance requirements;
and an inability to follow prescribed
chemical treatment for the well, thereby
impacting well performance, according
to Cosby.
In response, Ferguson-Beauregard part-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012

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