Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Dominique Hourdet

Arnaud Cadix

Pierre Maroy

Ilias Iliopoulos

Françoise LaFuma

Water-based fluids that can viscosify under shear or can produce a gel or form a gel under shear are obtained by dissolving polymers in an aqueous phase. These polymers comprise three types of functional groups: non-ionic functional groups that are hydrosoluble at the temperature under consideration, ionic functional groups, and functional groups that are hydrophobic at the temperature under consideration. These three types of functional groups can be distributed or spread in a random distribution along the polymer chain. A slightly block distribution is acceptable. For applications to oil wells, functional groups are used which exhibit LCST (Lower Critical Solution Temperature) behavior (i.e., a low critical solution temperature) instead of hydrophobic functional groups. At temperatures below the LCST, the functional groups are hydrophobic.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Dominique Hourdet