Houston firm develops eco-friendly anti-corrosion chemical
by Mella McEwen
Midland Reporter-Telegram
By Mella McEwen
Oil Editor
With pilot studies dating back to 2008 behind it, Houston's Planet Resource Recovery is ready to hit the marketplace with its PetroLuxus WC 100 Corrosion Control, an environmentally friendly well-cleaning product that cleans corrosion, the near well bore and improves production rates.
Of the pilot studies on wells in Gonzalez County, "we got some interesting results, some positive results," said Kurt Neubauer, Planet Resource's founder, chairman and chief executive officer, estimating a positive impact on 80 percent of the wells in pilot studies.
"We spent '09 trying to figure out what was really going on," he said by phone from his Houston office. "We learned through our clients in the pilot studies that there was a lot going on. One client said it reduced sulfur, the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and corrosion and because his pumping equipment was running longer cycles and pumping more days, he was getting more oil. So in that since you could say it's enhanced oil recovery."
PetroLuxus can also find its way into the formation, he noted, and can help clean the near well bore and recover the oil.
The company was founded in 2005 to foster the silicon or siloxane-based chemical science research. Neubauer noted that Planet Resource has been a research and development company for the last four years and now wants to move into operating mode. The research led to PetroLuxus, a chemical that was originally found to dislodge oil and reduce surface tension, Neubauer said.
"But when it contacts metal, it coats it for a while and the metal becomes slick and impervious to the elements that cause corrosion," he said.
"We are reducing the sulfur in the oil and we're also reducing the H2S factor, and by doing that we're controlling a couple of the main problems wells have," he said.
He cites one well in the pilot program that had to be taken apart and rebuilt every few days. After treatment with PetroLuxus, he said the well operated seven months before needing treatment and production rose from less than 80 barrels a month to 500 to 600 barrels a month.
The company is preparing to introduce a new product, targeted toward corrosion control, that can be blended with PetroLuxus for a two-stage treatment, he said.
"You get control of corrosion and there's also the surfactant qualities, to break down surface tensions," he said.
Because oil formations are huge, Neubauer explained, "although we're miscible and will spread, there's no way we can cover an entire formation. Our product is more in line with waterflooding, where you're moving an object and picking it up in another location. In stand-alone wells, we're improving performance - we're remediating the well, cleaning it up, reducing the sulfur and possibly the paraffin."
The company, he said, is willing to take on pilot projects in the Permian Basin. If, he said, there is a corrosion problem in the Permian Basin, "that's where we need to be."
He added, "We're ready to go to market. We're producing the chemical commercially and have been for a couple of years. We're ready to actually sell the chemicals."
The company, he said, can apply the chemicals or sell them to be applied by a service company or even the producer.
"The usage of the product is simple to follow," he said. "It's like gargling with mouthwash. You pump the well off and pour PetroLuxus down the backside. The idea is to get it to circulate for a couple of days and bleed it off to the tanks."
Not only will it clean the pump equipment and near oil but the transmission lines and even the tank battery, he said.
"We've used it in a scenario where you have trashy oil that no buyer will take that's stored in the tank," he recounted. "We've used it in oil stored in tanks, the oil was cleaned up, passed the test and sold. We had oil in Utah sitting in a tank for over a year, after our treatment they were able to sell it."
The company is also part of the National Corrosion Center at Rice University and is assisting on research on metal coatings both below and above ground, including structural and non-structural steel.
Another project is processes and chemical technology for heavy oil to improve the API, make the oil less viscous and reduce the sulfur content.
More information is available on the company's web site, planetresource.net.
Mella McEwen can be reached at mmcewen@mrt.com.
Oil Editor
With pilot studies dating back to 2008 behind it, Houston's Planet Resource Recovery is ready to hit the marketplace with its PetroLuxus WC 100 Corrosion Control, an environmentally friendly well-cleaning product that cleans corrosion, the near well bore and improves production rates.
Of the pilot studies on wells in Gonzalez County, "we got some interesting results, some positive results," said Kurt Neubauer, Planet Resource's founder, chairman and chief executive officer, estimating a positive impact on 80 percent of the wells in pilot studies.
"We spent '09 trying to figure out what was really going on," he said by phone from his Houston office. "We learned through our clients in the pilot studies that there was a lot going on. One client said it reduced sulfur, the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and corrosion and because his pumping equipment was running longer cycles and pumping more days, he was getting more oil. So in that since you could say it's enhanced oil recovery."
PetroLuxus can also find its way into the formation, he noted, and can help clean the near well bore and recover the oil.
The company was founded in 2005 to foster the silicon or siloxane-based chemical science research. Neubauer noted that Planet Resource has been a research and development company for the last four years and now wants to move into operating mode. The research led to PetroLuxus, a chemical that was originally found to dislodge oil and reduce surface tension, Neubauer said.
"But when it contacts metal, it coats it for a while and the metal becomes slick and impervious to the elements that cause corrosion," he said.
"We are reducing the sulfur in the oil and we're also reducing the H2S factor, and by doing that we're controlling a couple of the main problems wells have," he said.
He cites one well in the pilot program that had to be taken apart and rebuilt every few days. After treatment with PetroLuxus, he said the well operated seven months before needing treatment and production rose from less than 80 barrels a month to 500 to 600 barrels a month.
The company is preparing to introduce a new product, targeted toward corrosion control, that can be blended with PetroLuxus for a two-stage treatment, he said.
"You get control of corrosion and there's also the surfactant qualities, to break down surface tensions," he said.
Because oil formations are huge, Neubauer explained, "although we're miscible and will spread, there's no way we can cover an entire formation. Our product is more in line with waterflooding, where you're moving an object and picking it up in another location. In stand-alone wells, we're improving performance - we're remediating the well, cleaning it up, reducing the sulfur and possibly the paraffin."
The company, he said, is willing to take on pilot projects in the Permian Basin. If, he said, there is a corrosion problem in the Permian Basin, "that's where we need to be."
He added, "We're ready to go to market. We're producing the chemical commercially and have been for a couple of years. We're ready to actually sell the chemicals."
The company, he said, can apply the chemicals or sell them to be applied by a service company or even the producer.
"The usage of the product is simple to follow," he said. "It's like gargling with mouthwash. You pump the well off and pour PetroLuxus down the backside. The idea is to get it to circulate for a couple of days and bleed it off to the tanks."
Not only will it clean the pump equipment and near oil but the transmission lines and even the tank battery, he said.
"We've used it in a scenario where you have trashy oil that no buyer will take that's stored in the tank," he recounted. "We've used it in oil stored in tanks, the oil was cleaned up, passed the test and sold. We had oil in Utah sitting in a tank for over a year, after our treatment they were able to sell it."
The company is also part of the National Corrosion Center at Rice University and is assisting on research on metal coatings both below and above ground, including structural and non-structural steel.
Another project is processes and chemical technology for heavy oil to improve the API, make the oil less viscous and reduce the sulfur content.
More information is available on the company's web site, planetresource.net.
Mella McEwen can be reached at mmcewen@mrt.com.
