Scale Inhibitors

Scale inhibitors can prevent scale deposits which cause flow assurance issues by damaging the formation or plugging production tubing. The common oilfield scales are calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, barium sulphate and strontium sulphate. 

There are three main reasons for scale formation:

• Environmental change during oil transport
  - Changes in pressure / temperature lead to reduction in solubility of salts (i.e., loss of CO2)
• Mixing of incompatible brines 
  - Use of sea waters or aquifer waters
  - Cross flow or mixed waters from multiple zones
• Brine evaporation
  - Unusual, but seen under conditions where water can be flash evaporated
  

BASF specializes in polymer scale inhibitors for demanding (temperature, salinity) applications, with products from the Basoscale range.

Basoscale inhibitors vary by monomer selection and molecular weight and help you to

• Prevent restriction or blockage of production lines -> reduction of downtime and pumping energy
  
• Prevent damage of vessels -> reduced maintenance costs
  
• Reduce pump wear -> reduced maintenance costs and downtime
  
• Prevent safety value failure -> reduced maintenance costs
  
• Decrease the potential for under deposit corrosion -> longer lifetime of equipment and piping and reduced maintenance costs