Detection Of Formation Damage Associated To Paraffin In Reservoirs Of The Recôncavo Baiano, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract This work aims at presenting evidences of paraffination in some reservoirs located in the Recôncavo Baiano, state of Bahia, Brazil, by means of a thermal-chemical method called Nitrogen Generating System or SGN after the original Portuguese expression "Sistema Gerador de Nitrogênio". This method comprises applying the huge amounts of heat and nitrogen gas generated by the reaction between two nitrogen salt-containing aqueous solutions to fluidize the paraffin which becomes then incorporated to the reservoir oil production. In the present work, huge variations were observed for measurements of the melting point, paraffin content, viscosity of the samples, gas chromatography analyses, simulated distillation and wax appearance temperature taken before and after SGN treatment of the reservoirs. It could be seen that the heavy paraffin fraction (C40+) was increased while the light paraffin fraction (C20+ to C40) decreased due to the removal of paraffin deposits from the reservoir next to the perforation.