Paraffin Wax

What is Paraffin wax?

Simply put, it’s a deposit in oil and gas facilities that shows up when the flowing stream drops below it’s specific wax appearance temperate (WAT). That's definitely simply put, however, the creation of wax in your system and the treatment go far deeper than a simple explanation. Dig into wax below as we explore the causes, consequences of untreated wax issues, and your way out of a wax problem. It's important to understand that a wax deposition, if left untreated, can cause formation damage, tubing and flowline blocking, and impair other production equipment. This leads to high costs and diminished returns on your investment.

Causes of Wax Precipitation and Deposition

Why and when does wax show up?

In terms of the why, waxes are naturally present in crude oil and some condensates. For the when, it helps to understand where the change occurs. In a reservoir, at high temps and pressure, waxes are dissolved in the crude oil. As the crude oil journeys from the reservoir to the processing facility, wax will begin to precipitate from the crude oil when the temperature falls beneath the WAT. Precipitation is the first change that wax undergoes. The second is deposition where the wax begins attaching to steel fixtures and building layers over time.

What causes temperature and pressure changes?

Mixing of fluids – Formation water gets introduced to cooler injection fluids during acidizing, fracturing, and stimulation.

Pressure Changes - Pressure on the fluid changes from Lithostatic to Hydrostatic as it nears the surface. This change often causes a temperature drop. A temperature drop can also be noticed after valves, pumps, and other equipment on surface.

Heat loss – Produced fluids can lose heat to the walls of the pipe during product flow. This can be conductive heat loss, radiative heat loss, convective, and forced convective heat loss.

How do you know if you have a wax problem?

Are you seeing increasing differential pressures? You might see higher wellhead pressures, increased line pressure, or higher pump discharge pressures

Declining Production? Oil production is down, flow rates are no longer stable, throughput is lower.

Temperature related problems? Production is down in the winter months. You’ve got startup problems after a shutdown. Colder sections of pipe begin plugging first.

Increased pigging requirements? Do you have to pig often? Are you seeing wax returned during the pigging operation?

Rod load or pumping problems? The rod load is increasing, the pumps are sticking, you’re using higher amperage, but efficiency of the pumps is reducing.

Visual Indicators? You might be able to see wax build up on tubing, in separators, on tank bottoms, or valves and chokes.

Pour Point. Is your oil thickening? Is your pour point rising? Is it getting harder to handle the fluid?

Testing and Mitigation

There are plenty of signs that help you recognize you’ve got a wax problem. If you've identified wax as a problem, don't panic, there are solutions. With several wax inhibitors already in our portfolio, and the ability to create tailored solutions, Flowet is your valued partner and we're here to work with you. We want you back on track! Contact us today to start your journey to restoring production efficiency and maximizing flow performance.

Flowet can provide several different testing methods.

Cold Finger Testing - How aggressive is your wax growth and how well does your inhibitor perform.
Wax Appearance Temperate Viscosity Testing - When do the wax crystals begin forming and what impact do they have on viscosity.
Gas Chromatography Testing - Helping you understand the carbon number distribution of the wax.
Differential Scanning Calorimetry - When does wax begin forming? how severe is it? Is your inhibitor effective? How does temperature impact flow assurance?