Patents Examined by Charles R. Nold
  • Patent number: 11718784
    Abstract: Hydraulic fracturing fluids and methods to hydraulically fracture a subterranean formation and oxidize organic material in the subterranean formation. The hydraulic fracturing fluid includes water, another fluid, and a surfactant. An inorganic oxidizer is included in the water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Katherine Leigh Hull, Rajesh Kumar Saini, Younane N. Abousleiman, Desmond Schipper
  • Patent number: 11718783
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method for preparing a dispersion of a hydrophilic phase in a lipophilic phase, comprising:—a hydrophilic phase comprising at least one water-soluble (co)polymer, —a lipophilic phase, —at least one interface polymer consisting of at least one monomer of formula (I): Formula (I) in which, —R1, R2, R3 are separately a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, a carboxylate group and Z—X, —Z is chosen from the group comprising C(?O)—O; C(?O)—NH; O—C(?O); NH—C(?O)—NH; NH—C(?O)—O; and a saturated or unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted carbon chain comprising 1 to 20 carbon atoms capable of comprising one or more heteroatoms chosen from nitrogen and oxygen, —X is a group chosen from the alkanolamides, sorbitan esters, ethoxylated sorbitan esters, glyceryl esters, and polyglycosides; and comprising a saturated or unsaturated, linear, branched or cyclic, optionally aromatic, hydrocarbon chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: SNF GROUP
    Inventors: Olivier Braun, Lionel Lauber
  • Patent number: 11708520
    Abstract: Cementing compositions containing a hydraulic cement, halloysite nanoparticles, and silica flour. The cementing compositions may optionally include other additives such as a friction reducer, a defoamer, and a fluid loss additive. Cement samples made therefrom and methods of producing such cement samples are also specified. The addition of halloysite nanoparticles and silica flour provides enhanced mechanical strength (e.g. compressive strength, flexural strength) and improved durability (e.g. resistance to CO2 and salinity) to the cement, making them suitable cementing material for oil and gas wells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
    Inventors: Ahmed Abdulhamid Mahmoud, Salaheldin Elkatatny, Mohamed Mahmoud
  • Patent number: 11708517
    Abstract: A method of drilling a subterranean geological formation is described. The method includes driving a drill bit to form a wellbore in the subterranean geological formation thereby producing a formation fluid including hydrogen sulfide. The method further includes injecting a drilling fluid into the subterranean geological formation through the wellbore. The drilling fluid includes an aqueous solvent, a hydrogen sulfide scavenger including particles of a manganese oxide supported on a porous support. The particles are suspended in the aqueous solvent. The method further includes reacting the hydrogen sulfide scavenger with the hydrogen sulfide present in the formation fluid to form a manganese sulfide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS
    Inventor: Sagheer A. Onaizi
  • Patent number: 11708751
    Abstract: Provided are methods of recovering oil from a reservoir using carbon dioxide foam flooding in which a carbon dioxide foam of increased strength is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Kenneth Richard Kibodeaux, Huseyin Onur Balan, Anuj Gupta
  • Patent number: 11697700
    Abstract: Provided is a quaternary ammonium surfmer, that may have the following general formula (I): N+—R1R2R3R4 (X?), where: R1 and R2 may independently be H or a C1-C3 alkyl, R3 may be a C19+ amidoalkyl group, R4 may be a C3-C6 alkyl having a terminal olefin double bond group, and X may be a halogen. Further provided is a method for synthesizing the quaternary ammonium surfmer and a method for recovering hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation that may include injecting a treatment fluid comprising the quaternary ammonium surfmer into the subterranean formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Xuan Zhang, Ming Han, Limin Xu
  • Patent number: 11697098
    Abstract: An apparatus for continuously generating and controlling the density of foam has a fluid in-flow manifold in communication with a source of liquid and comprising a pressure sensor. A plurality of branch lines are in fluid communication with the in-flow manifold a foam out-flow manifold. Each branch line has a flow control valve, a Venturi tube and in fluid communication with a throat of each Venturi tube an air induction control valve. The foam out-flow manifold has a pressure sensor. At least one in-flow control valve is disposed between the source and the in-flow manifold and at least one out-flow control valve is in communication with the out-flow manifold. The branch valves, air valves, the in-flow control valve and the out-flow control valve are operable to provide a chosen flow rate of the liquid and a selected foam product flow rate at a selected density of the foam product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: RheoVest, LLC
    Inventors: Eric Appleton, Clayton Massett, Nathan R. Hutchings
  • Patent number: 11697768
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the use of foaming additives in liquid, paste or powder form, to condition soil excavated with a tunnel boring machine. Said additives can be classified as readily biodegradable and are characterised by a lower ecotoxicological impact than commercial products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: MAPEI SPA
    Inventors: Massimo Stefanoni, Marco Squinzi, Carlo Pistolesi, Enrico Dal Negro, Alessandro Boscaro
  • Patent number: 11685857
    Abstract: A method of evaluating a surfactant is provided. The method includes preparing a first emulsion comprising an aqueous phase, an oleaginous phase, and a first surfactant. Then the method includes determining an average droplet size of oleaginous phase droplets in the first emulsion. The method then includes preparing a second emulsion comprising the aqueous phase, the oleaginous phase, and a second surfactant, and then determining an average droplet size of oleaginous phase droplets in the second emulsion. After determining droplet sizes of both emulsions, the method includes comparing the average droplet size of the of the oleaginous phase droplets in the first emulsion to the average droplet size of the oleaginous phase droplets in the second emulsion, and based on the comparing of the average droplet sizes, determining a relative interfacial tension of the first surfactant as compared to the second surfactant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Waleed Abdulaziz Dokhon, Abdulkareem M. Alsofi
  • Patent number: 11680200
    Abstract: According to embodiments disclosed herein, a gel fluid composite may include a nanosilica gel and a plurality of quantum dot tracers. The nanosilica gel may be configured to seal one or more downhole fractures in a wellbore. The plurality of quantum dot tracers may be dispersed in the nanosilica gel. The plurality of quantum dot tracers may each include a semiconductor particle core housed in a silica shell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Wengang Li, Jin Huang
  • Patent number: 11680454
    Abstract: A method of plugging a well extending into a formation to facilitate temporary or permanent abandonment of the well. The method comprises conveying a plug placement and verification tool (PPVT) through the well, to a plug formation location, the PPVT comprising a stinger for delivering a plugging material into the well, an expandable packer disposed at one end of the stinger and a pressure sensor disposed below the expandable packer, and operating the expandable packer to form a seal in the well above the pressure sensor. The method further comprises delivering a plugging material from the stinger into a region of the well above the expandable packer, thereby forming a plug in the well, and thereafter creating a pressure change above the plug and verifying the integrity of the plug using the pressure sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: EQUINOR ENERGY AS
    Inventors: Gjermund Grimsbo, Pål Viggo Hemmingsen, Halvor Kjørholt, Gisle Stjern
  • Patent number: 11674070
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure provide an unfoldable device for controlling lost circulation in a target lost circulation zone in a borehole. The unfoldable device includes a sheet, a backbone, and a shell. The sheet has an unfolded state and a folded state. The backbone reinforces the sheet. The backbone includes a shape-memory material having an original state and a deformed state. The shell encapsulates the sheet in the folded state and the backbone in the deformed state. In some embodiments, the shell includes a degradable polymer that degrades in the borehole upon contact with a drilling fluid such that the sheet transitions to the unfolded state and the backbone transitions to the original state. The sheet in the unfolded state accumulates on a borehole wall at least partially covering an entrance to a macrochannel of the target lost circulation zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Simone Musso, Ashok Santra, Sivaprakash Shanmugam
  • Patent number: 11667832
    Abstract: Producing proppants with nanoparticle proppant coatings includes reacting nanoparticles with at least one of an alkoxysilane solution or a halosilane solution to form functionalized nanoparticles and coating proppant particles with unfunctionalized organic resin, a strengthening agent, and the functionalized nanoparticles to produce the nanoparticle coated proppant. The functionalized nanoparticles include nanoparticles having at least one attached omniphobic moiety including at least a fluoroalkyl-containing group including 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctylsilane. The strengthening agent comprises at least one of carbon nanotubes, silica, alumina, mica, nanoclay, graphene, boron nitride nanotubes, vanadium pentoxide, zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, or zirconium oxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Rajesh Kumar Saini, Mohammad Hamidul Haque, Mohammed Sayed
  • Patent number: 11667826
    Abstract: A wellbore fluid comprising a first aqueous base fluid and a plurality of silica nanoparticles suspended in the first aqueous base fluid. The nanoparticles are present in the fluid in an amount to have an effect of decreasing a crystallization temperature by at least 4 to 55° F. as compared to a second aqueous base fluid without the silica nanoparticles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hui Joyce Zhang, Xia Wei, Steven Young
  • Patent number: 11661541
    Abstract: In wellbore abandonment operations using recycled tire rubber, a quantity of shredded rubber obtained by shredding waste tires is mixed with a quantity of a wellbore fluid to form a wellbore abandonment fluid. A first plug of cement is flowed into a wellbore to be abandoned. After the first plug of cement has set, the wellbore abandonment fluid is flowed into the wellbore such that the wellbore abandonment fluid contacts and is uphole of the first plug of cement within the wellbore. After flowing the wellbore abandonment fluid into the wellbore, a second plug of cement is flowed into the wellbore such that the second plug of cement contacts and is uphole of the wellbore abandonment fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Saad Hamid, Nahr M. Abulhamayel, Mohammed Alatigue, Abdullah A. Almulhim
  • Patent number: 11649396
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a water-soluble copolymer comprising the step of reacting a monomer (a) of formula (I), wherein Q1, Q2, R1 to R7 and X have the meaning as indicated in the description and claims with at least one monoethylenically unsaturated, anionic monomer (b), preferably representing a monoethylenically unsaturated monomer comprising at least one carboxy, phosphonate or sulfonate group and salts thereof, preferably their ammonium salts or alkaline-earth metal salts or alkali metal salts; and at least one monoethylenically unsaturated, non-ionic monomer (c). The present invention further relates to a copolymer obtainable by said process and its use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a formulation comprising said copolymer and a method of oil production uses said formulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: BASF SE
    Inventors: Bjoern Langlotz, Christian Bittner, Stefan Stein
  • Patent number: 11643588
    Abstract: The embodiments described herein generally relate to methods and chemical compositions for use with wellbore treatment processes. In one embodiment, a composition is provided comprising a cementitious material, a drilling fluid, or combinations thereof, and an additive composition comprising one or more components selected from the group of an aqueous insoluble lignin, a coke fine, a random tetracopolymer having the formula styrene-butadiene-acrylic-fumaric acid, a polyvinyl acetate, a surfactant composition, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: HEXION INC.
    Inventors: Li Jiang, Jan Beetge, Fenglou Zou
  • Patent number: 11624021
    Abstract: A method for controlling the permeability of an oil well includes the steps of preparing a polymerizable bicomponent system having at least a fluid with at least an olefinically unsaturated first polymerizable compound; optionally, at least one radical polymerization initiator IA, the initiator IA being activated thermally or in the presence of an accelerating compound and a fluid with a radical polymerization activator, the activator being selected from: a radical polymerization initiator IB for polymerizing the polymerizable compound, the initiator IB having an activation temperature equal to or lower than the temperature of the thief zone, an accelerator of the initiator IA, The method further includes injecting one of the fluids into the well annulus until the thief zone is reached, and injecting the remainder into the tubular element, until it comes into contact with the fluid injected through the annulus to form a blocking polymer at the thief zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: ENI S.P.A.
    Inventors: Elisa Di Biase, Matia Minelli, Davide Moscatelli, Azzurra Agostini
  • Patent number: 11618849
    Abstract: A treatment fluid and process for enhancing hydrocarbon production from a shale formation using a treatment fluid comprising a water soluble delayed release carbonate-dissolving agent and introducing the treatment fluid into the shale formation after or as part of a hydraulic fracturing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: CLEANSORB LIMITED
    Inventor: Ralph Edmund Harris
  • Patent number: 11608737
    Abstract: A fluid control system includes a fluid control device configured to be connected to at least one of two casing elements in a well, for controlling a fluid flow between a bore of the fluid control device and a zone located outside the casing elements; and a tracer material located within an inner chamber of a body of the fluid control device, the tracer material being uniquely associated with the fluid control device. The fluid control device is configured to release, when activated, the tracer material out of the inner chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: GEODYNAMICS, INC.
    Inventors: Dennis Roessler, John Hardesty