Patents Examined by Angela M Ditrani
  • System and method for inhibiting scale formation in oil wells
    Patent number: 9914869
    Abstract: An amount of treatment water injected into a subterranean well may be reduced by providing an environmentally friendly polymer, such as a biodegradable polymer (e.g., an aspartic acid based polymer), to the subterranean well. In some cases, the aspartic acid based polymer may include one or more of a copolymer of the aspartic acid based polymer, a terpolymer of the aspartic acid based polymer, an aspartic acid based polymer derivative, an aspartic acid based polymer having an end cap, and a soluble salt of the aspartic acid based polymer. In some cases, the treatment water use may be reduced within the range of about five percent to about ninety five percent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: GLOBAL GREEN PRODUCTS LLC
    Inventors: Larry P. Koskan, Abdul R. Meah
  • Method of inerting pipelines, buried tanks or wellbores using an SAP
    Patent number: 9914828
    Abstract: A method of inerting pipelines, or buried tanks or wellbores consisting of preparing a composition including at least one superabsorbent (co)polymer partially or fully swollen in the presence of water, then injecting the composition directly into the pipelines or buried tank or well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: S.P.C.M. SA
    Inventors: Stéphane Delheur, Pierre Lyot
  • Using colloidal silica as isolator, diverter and blocking agent for subsurface geological applications
    Patent number: 9909052
    Abstract: A system for blocking fast flow paths in geological formations includes preparing a solution of colloidal silica having a nonviscous phase and a solid gel phase. The solution of colloidal silica is injected into the geological formations while the solution of colloidal silica is in the nonviscous phase. The solution of colloidal silica is directed into the fast flow paths and reaches the solid gel phase in the fast flow paths thereby blocking flow of fluid in the fast paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
    Inventors: William L. Bourcier, Sarah K. Roberts, Jeffery J. Roberts, Souheil M. Ezzedine, Jonathan D. Hunt
  • Composition of a degradable diverting agent and a degradable accelerator with tunable degradable rate
    Patent number: 9909055
    Abstract: Methods and compositions for a treatment fluid composition are disclosed for use within a subterranean formation, comprising: a degradable diverting agent, and a Schiff base comprising a degradation accelerator. The treatment fluid may be introduced into a formation and the Schiff base allowed to hydrolytically release the degradation accelerator, allowing the degradation accelerator to degrade the degradable diverting agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: B. Raghava Reddy, Janette Cortez
  • Adjusting surfactant concentrations during hyraulic fracturing
    Patent number: 9909403
    Abstract: Fracturing methods include introducing a relatively high concentration of a surfactant in an initial portion of one or more fluids used in a fracturing treatment and then cutting or ramping back to a relatively low concentration of the surfactant in the remaining fluid used in the treatment. By using such a method, the volume of surfactant to provide superior treatment can be reduced significantly from the normal recommendations, leading to a high cost savings while still obtaining the desired effect upon cleanup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Jim D. Weaver, Michael A. McCabe
  • Method employing pressure transients in hydrocarbon recovery operations
    Patent number: 9903170
    Abstract: Methods to induce pressure transients in fluids for use in hydrocarbon recovery operations. Pressure transients are induced in a fluid by a collision process. The collision process employs a moving object that collides outside the fluid with a body that is in contact with the fluid inside a partly enclosed space. The pressure transients must be allowed to propagate in the fluid. The fluid may be one or more of the following group: primarily water, consolidation fluid, treatment fluid, cleaning fluid, drilling fluid, fracturing fluid and cement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: IMPACT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS AS
    Inventor: Jim-Viktor Paulsen
  • Methods of stabilizing clays within a subterranean formation
    Patent number: 9902896
    Abstract: A method of stabilizing one or more clays within a subterranean formation comprises forming at least one treatment fluid comprising anionic silica particles, cationic silica particles, and at least one base material. The at least one treatment fluid is provided into a subterranean formation containing clay particles to attach at least a portion of the anionic silica particles and the cationic silica particles to surfaces of the clay particles and form stabilized clay particles. A method of treating one or more clays contained within a subterranean formation, and a treatment fluid for a subterranean formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventors: Devesh Kumar Agrawal, Radhika Suresh, Oleksandr V. Kuznetsov, Valery N. Khabashesku, John C. Welch
  • System and apparatus for creating a liquid carbon dioxide fracturing fluid
    Patent number: 9896922
    Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus required for creating a mixture of dry proppant and liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) for fracturing oil and gas formations is presented. The operation includes making a mixture of dry proppant and liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2) for use in a fracturing operation by supplying dry proppant that is pressurized to between 75 and 600 psia with a gas; further supplying a stream of sub-cooled LCO2 having a pressure substantially equal to that of the pressurized dry proppant; and adding dry, pressurized proppant to the stream of sub-cooled LCO2, thereby forming a mixed LCO2 and proppant fracturing slurry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: PRAXAIR TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Richard M. Kelly, Nick Joseph Degenstein, Bernard Thomas Neu
  • Enhancing conductivity of microfractures
    Patent number: 9896619
    Abstract: A method of fracturing a subterranean formation and forming a fracture network therein that includes at least one primary fracture and at least one microfracture is provided. A plurality of micro-proppant particulates is mixed with the fracturing fluid and placed in the microfracture, and a plurality of primary proppant particulates are mixed with the fracturing fluid and placed in the primary fracture. The step of mixing the micro-proppant particulates with the fracturing fluid continues for so long as the primary proppant particulates are mixed with the fracturing fluid and the fracturing fluid and primary proppant particulates are pumped into the formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip D. Nguyen, Vladimir Nikolayevich Martysevich, Jessica Lynn Heeter
  • System and methods for controlled fracturing in formations
    Patent number: 9890627
    Abstract: Controlled fracturing in geologic formations is carried out in a method employing a combination of alternating and impulsive current waveforms, applied in succession to achieve extensive fracturing and disintegration of rock materials for liquid and gas recovery. In a pre-conditioning step, high voltage discharges and optionally with highly ionizable gas injections are applied to a system of borehole electrodes, causing the formation to fracture with disintegration in multiple directions but confined between the locations of electrode pairs of opposite polarity. After pre-conditioning, intense current waveform of pulse energy is then applied to the system of borehole electrodes to create waves of ionization or shock waves with bubbles of heated gas that propagate inside and outside the high conductivity channels, resulting in rock disintegration with attendant large scale multiple fracturing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: CHEVRON U.S.A. INC.
    Inventors: Raymond Stanley Kasevich, Jeb Xiaobing Rong, James Preston Koffer, Mark Dean Looney, Margaretha Catharina Maria Rijken
  • Compositions and systems for combatting lost circulation and methods of using the same
    Patent number: 9890319
    Abstract: A method of servicing a wellbore in a subterranean formation comprising preparing a composition comprising a base fluid, a thixotropic viscosifier, a gellable composition and a bridging material, applying a shear force to the composition such that the composition viscosity decreases, introducing the composition into a lost circulation zone in the subterranean formation, wherein the lost circulation zone comprises cavities greater than about 200 microns in diameter, decreasing the shear force applied to the composition, and allowing the composition to set in the lost circulation zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan G. Ezell, B. Raghava Reddy
  • Methods and systems for iron control using a phosphinated carboxylic acid polymer
    Patent number: 9890320
    Abstract: The presence of iron in a subterranean formation, particularly ferric iron, can be problematic during an acidizing operation due to sludge formation that can occur. Methods for treating a subterranean formation in the presence of iron can comprise: providing a treatment fluid comprising an acid and an iron stabilization agent comprising a phosphinated carboxylic acid polymer, the treatment fluid having a pH of about 3 or below and the phosphinated carboxylic acid polymer being soluble in the treatment fluid; introducing the treatment fluid into a subterranean formation; and interacting the phosphinated carboxylic acid polymer with ferric iron in the subterranean formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Enrique Antonio Reyes, Aaron Michael Beuterbaugh, Alyssa Lynn Smith, Christopher Lynn Smith
  • Heat exchange in downhole apparatus using core-shell nanoparticles
    Patent number: 9885226
    Abstract: In one aspect, a method of extracting heat from a downhole device is disclosed, which method, in one non-limiting embodiment, may include: providing a heat exchange fluid that includes a base fluid and core-shell nanoparticles therein; circulating the heat exchange fluid in the downhole device proximate to a heat-generating element of the downhole to cause the core of the core-shell nanoparticles to melt to extract heat from the downhole device and then enabling the heat exchange fluid to cool down to cause the core of the core shell nanoparticles to solidify for recirculation of the heat exchange fluid proximate to the heat-generating element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: BAKER HUGHES, A GE COMPANY, LLC
    Inventors: Oleg A. Mazyar, Bennett M. Richard
  • High flash point fluids for in situ plasticization of polymers
    Patent number: 9878486
    Abstract: An in situ method to deploy and/or plasticize a shape-memory material in order to change the material's physical dimensions and/or mechanical properties, includes a method for deploying a shape memory polymer having a deformed or compressed shape in an environment at a first temperature, the shape memory polymer having a first glass transition temperature which is greater than the first temperature. The method also includes contacting the shape memory polymer with an activation fluid in an amount effective to decrease the glass transition temperature of the shape memory polymer from the first glass transition temperature to a second glass transition temperature which is less than or equal to the first temperature, where the activation fluid comprises a sugar present in an amount effective to raise a flash point of the activation fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Baker Hughes, a GE company, LLC
    Inventors: Bairu Liu, Anil Sadana, James B. Crews
  • Method of gravity assisted microbiologically enhanced oil recovery by improving the distribution of nutrients introduced into oil producing rock formations
    Patent number: 9868895
    Abstract: A method of improving oil recovery includes the step of selecting an oil containing rock formation having geologic structures and well completions with vertical permeability that allow a structurally high water injection point. Through a series of analyzes a nutrient water mixture is determined and injected at the injection point to stimulate resident microorganisms through gravity dispersion of nutrient materials. A period of limitation is allowed to permit changes in the size or hydrophobic properties of the microorganisms. Through interaction with the stimulated resident microorganisms, oil, trapped in a pore space, is freed to accumulate with upward gravity separation for production.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Titan Oil Recovery, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan James Sheehy, Bradley Ray Govreau, Colin Kenneth Hill, Michael Thomas Carroll, Brian W. G. Marcotte
  • Stabilizing formation laminae in coal seam wellbores
    Patent number: 9862872
    Abstract: Methods including introducing a treatment fluid into a wellbore in a subterranean formation, wherein the subterranean formation includes a coal seam gas reservoir, a freshwater reservoir, and formation laminae interposed therebetween, and the wellbore penetrating each, and wherein the treatment fluid comprises an aqueous base fluid and an aqueous curable resin; penetrating at least a portion of the formation laminae with the aqueous curable resin while maintaining the treatment fluid in the wellbore at a pressure sufficient to prevent the flow of freshwater from the freshwater reservoir into the wellbore; curing the aqueous curable resin, thereby stabilizing the formation laminae; creating permeability pathways in the coal seam gas reservoir itself; removing the treatment fluid from the wellbore; recovering gas from the coal seam gas reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip D. Nguyen, Douglas Magill, Jessica Lynn Heeter, Billy Smith
  • Treatment fluids for reducing subterranean formation damage
    Patent number: 9862874
    Abstract: Methods of introducing a treatment fluid into a subterranean formation having a filtercake deposited thereon, wherein the treatment fluid comprises a base fluid and an inclusion complex comprising a cyclodextrin compound and an acid precursor ester, and wherein the cyclodextrin compound delays hydrolysis of the acid precursor ester; contacting the treatment fluid with the filtercake; and hydrolyzing the acid precursor ester, thereby removing at least a portion of the filtercake.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Sunita Sameer Kadam, Rajendra Arunkumar Kalgaonkar
  • Method for drilling a well with reduced infiltration
    Patent number: 9856410
    Abstract: A drilling fluid system using retarded acid systems such as gelled acid (VES or polymer) and/or emulsified acid to drill carbonate formations (calcite and dolomite). Foamed acid may be used in low abnormal pressure carbonate reservoirs. The drilling fluid system permits drilling a target hydrocarbon-producing formation with zero-invasion of the drilling fluid system. A method for using the drilling fluid system for fluid loss control during drilling operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
    Inventors: Badr Salem Ba Geri, Mohamed Ahmed Mahmoud
  • Propping complex fracture networks in tight formations
    Patent number: 9850748
    Abstract: Generally, methods for propping complex fracture networks in tight subterranean formations may involve introducing a first treatment fluid comprising a first base fluid and a first propping agent having a mean particulate size distribution ranging from about 0.5 microns to about 20 microns into a fracture network in a subterranean formation; and then introducing a second treatment fluid comprising a second base fluid and a second propping agent having a mean particulate size distribution greater than about 35 microns into the fracture network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip D. Nguyen, Jeff T. Fleming
  • Immiscible fluid systems and methods of use for placing proppant in subterranean formations
    Patent number: 9845670
    Abstract: Systems and methods for placing proppant in a portion of a subterranean formation (e.g., in a fracturing operation) using two or more immiscible fluids are provided. In certain embodiments, the methods comprise: introducing into a well bore penetrating a portion of a subterranean formation alternating stages of a first treatment fluid comprising one or more proppants, and a second treatment fluid comprising a lesser concentration of proppants than the first fluid, wherein the first fluid and the second fluid are substantially immiscible in one another, and wherein the alternating stages of the first and second treatment fluids are introduced into the well bore at or above a pressure sufficient to create or enhance one or more fractures in the subterranean formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Jim Basuki Surjaatmadja, Stanley V. Stephenson