Oil and gas industries

We have the solution for a common problem in drilling for oil and gas. When unstable sandformations are present, the extraction of oil or gas can cause loose sand to be dragged out as well, with negative effects on the productivity of the reservoir, and this also causes great wear and tear on the production equipment.
With our product Nanoglue® we can consolidate loose sand, at the same time ensuring optimized maintenance of a high throughput of oil or gas. The consolidation of mineral deposits with Nanoglue® represents a low-cost and simply applied alternative to traditional sand-control methods such as screens, gravel packs, etc.

By creating artificial fissures in oil- and gas-containing mineral deposits, the productivity of an oil or gas well can be increased, or an extraction process simply made possible. To stabilize this type of well, sand particles or ceramic particles (so-called proppants) are used. If these proppants are treated with specific binder materials, they can be made more solid so that they provide the artificial fissures with the required stability whilst retaining the same level of permeability for oil and gas.
In comparison with traditional application methods, the usable life of proppants is significantly increased through the use of our hybrid binder materials. It is therefore possible to do without any expensive mechanical solutions to stabilize the proppants, and it is similarly unnecessary to use pricy resin coated proppants (RCP’s).

Efficient water management in oil and gas production is essential. When drilling wells to access reserves of oil and gas, it is common for a very high proportion of water to be produced. An incidental co-production of more than 90 % water is not unusual. The separation and disposal of the resulting water quantities is complicated and extremely costly.
Our binding materials can be modified in such a way that the inflow of surrounding water into the well can be avoided: almost all of the water can be prevented from entering the well, making it possible to resume production of oil or gas without significant water contamination. Contact us to find out more about our ideas and concepts in this area.

The targeted modification of our binding materials for the oil and gas industries is a task which requires intensive research, as the application must in each case be adapted to the prevailing geological conditions (e.g. the quantity of sand or oil). EPG has a laboratory facility in its subsidiary’s premises in Henriville, France, enabling it to carry out all the required tests for further product development. This is where new formulations are developed from the laboratory level thru to large-scale serial production.

In oil and gas production, the use of steel pipes containing an element of carbon is essential, but during prolonged use these are highly susceptible to internal contamination with dirt or chalk deposits.

We are currently developing a new technology, to enable us to transfer our expertise in the field of surface enhancement for stainless steel to include carboniferous steels as well. In initial trials we have established that it is possible, with the use of our coatings, to prevent internal calcification or dirt deposits inside the pipes, or at least to reduce them significantly. In this way, cleaning intervals for pipes could be greatly extended, or the downtime of wells could be shortened.

It is now planned to conduct a feasibility study to assess the effectiveness of our surface coatings for carbon steels.