An Overview of Nanotechnology in Upstream and Downstream of Oil and Gas Industry: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

Nowadays, engineers and researchers have deeply perceived the application of nano-scale materials and the associated emerging technology so-called nanotechnology (NT) not only to address the existing challenges in all sciences but also to reshape the future of entire industrial world. Recently, NT has been taken into consideration tremendously for energy applications in both conventional and green types of energies. Particularly in the oil and gas industry (OGI) as the current primary energy source, NT implementation has attracted enormous attentions by researchers and companies due to increasing numerous articles that have been published every year. In this review article, an up-to-date benefits of NT applications in OGI including upstream, midstream, and downstream were highlighted. Besides, the main challenges in oil and gas fields have been discussed to show the potential of NT to overcome the obstacles. Finally, outcomes of several studies were traced in higher efficiency to demonstrate NT application in all OGI sections, and the field trials were summarized as well.

Chemically crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol for water shut‐off and conformance control treatments during oil production: The effect of silica nanoparticles

“…One of the main outcome of nanocomposite hydrogel injection is pore plugging in porous media which results in formation permeability reduction 42 and subsequently an effective operational for water shut‐off. On the other side, NPs are able to penetrate easily in porous media and because of their outstanding potential such as wettability modifier, interfacial tension reduction and mobility ratio enhancement, 30 they have also a significant impact on oil recovery. However, their performance strongly depend on the NPs size, diameter and concentration 30 which make them able to become flow or trap.…”

“…On the other side, NPs are able to penetrate easily in porous media and because of their outstanding potential such as wettability modifier, interfacial tension reduction and mobility ratio enhancement, 30 they have also a significant impact on oil recovery. However, their performance strongly depend on the NPs size, diameter and concentration 30 which make them able to become flow or trap. Thus, the evolution process was conducted to ensure the NPs capabilities before conducting flooding tests.…”

“…28,29 For instance, nanoparticles (NPs) inherent potential have been approved in many sciences and industries, particularly in oil and gas industry applications. 30 NPs as multifunction materials for unifying the structure on molecular and nanoscale levels could be an assistant in water treatment application. Variety of researches have been conducted and truly demonstrated the affordable and effective application of NPs in gelation time elongation or shortening, 31,32 mechanical properties enhancement, 33 structure framework reinforcement and thermal stability, 34 and wettability modifier.…”

“…However, microgels has been introduced and developed in recent years to overcome this problem 28,29 . For instance, nanoparticles (NPs) inherent potential have been approved in many sciences and industries, particularly in oil and gas industry applications 30 . NPs as multifunction materials for unifying the structure on molecular and nanoscale levels could be an assistant in water treatment application.…”

Nano-Engineered Polyaspartate-Coated Magnetite Scale Inhibitor: A Sustainable Solution for Efficient Gypsum Scale Control in Oilfield Operations

“…Nowadays, nanotechnology has seen rapid advances in both research and applications at all levels, including in the upstream petroleum industry. Diverse nanostructured materials and alternative methodologies have been introduced to address the issue of scale formation, predominantly using an organic scale inhibitor in some form or another. − …”