In recent years, the increase in energy prices and demand has been driven by the post-pandemic economic recovery. Of the various energy sources, oil and natural gas remain the most important source of energy production and consumption after coal. Oil and gas pipelines are a key component of the overall energy infrastructure, transporting oil and gas from mines to end users, so the reliability and safety of these pipelines is critical. The oil and gas industry incurs large expenses for the removal of failures related to, among others, corrosion of pipelines caused by the presence of Hg, CO₂ H₂S, carbonates and chlorides in reservoir waters. Therefore, pipeline operators must constantly monitor and prevent corrosion. Corrosion failure losses are a major motivation for the oil and gas industry to develop accurate monitoring models using non-destructive NDT methods based on test results and failure frequency observations. Observing the locations of frequent pipeline failures and monitoring and applying corrosion protection to pipelines play an important role in reducing failure rates and ultimately increasing the economic and safety performance of pipelines. Monitoring and prevention efforts support the decision-making process in the oil and gas industry by predicting failures and determining the timing of maintenance or replacement of corroded pipelines. We have presented methods of prevention through the use of corrosion inhibitors in crude oil and natural gas transmission pipelines, as well as various factors that influence their application. In this article, a review of corrosion rate monitoring systems is conducted, and a range of control and monitoring scenarios is proposed. This knowledge will aid scientists and practitioners in prioritizing their policies, not only to choose the appropriate monitoring technique but also to enhance corrosion protection effectiveness.

Corrosion in the oil and gas industry is very common due to the simultaneous action of a chemically active environment, temperature, and other non-chemical factors, for example, mechanical erosion by friction, and for these reasons corrosion is a very complex process. Corrosion at higher temperatures is an important aspect when extracting natural gas from a field with high temperatures (120 °C in the Lubiatow deposit and 180 °C in the gas well in Kutno). Water in the reservoir is often in the form of steam, with a pressure of about 25 MPa; as a result of its extraction, it cools down, which causes condensation. Condensed water in contact with the acid components of the gas causes corrosion, especially in the presence of aggressive gases, such as CO₂ and H₂S. Therefore, the aim of the work was to conduct research on the influence of water condensation, as a result of temperature changes in gasses containing CO₂ and H₂S on the corrosion of L80-1 steel at the junction of extraction pipes with casing pipes. The tests are carried out at temperatures of 65–95 °C, under a pressure of 7.5 MPa, so in quite aggressive conditions. The duration of the studies was 720 h (within a month). The results of the research allowed an answer to be provided for the question of what influence temperature, gas components, and pressure have on the corrosion of the well construction material. Moreover, the results clearly showed the selection of the material for the well, in order to prevent corrosion in aggressive environments.

Chemicals are added to crude oil to ensure that it flows from the well to the processing plant. Depending on the composition of the reservoir fluids being extracted (crude oil, reservoir water, natural gas), paraffin may be separated from the crude oil, hydrates may be formed from reservoir water and natural gas, and the combination of reservoir water and crude oil may form an emulsion. Those situations should be avoided to ensure continuous flow from the wellbore to the processing plant. To this end, chemicals, paraffin inhibitors, hydrate inhibitors, and demulsifiers are used. Based on the literature on the subject and on the author’s own experience from observing technological processes, research methods were proposed to assess the effectiveness of chemicals used to ensure the continuity of crude oil flow. The crude oil selected for the tests was characterised by a high content of paraffins, asphaltenes, chloride ions, and water. To determine the onset of paraffin precipitation, tests were conducted based on a change in viscosity and a coupon method – determining the weight gain on a coupon to check the effectiveness of a paraffin inhibitor. The rate of emulsion separation was evaluated in separating funnels. The water released from crude oil often leaches the salt contained within it. Various demulsifiers were used to investigate the separation of emulsions and the purification of oil from salts; silicone demulsifiers in particular were considered. To determine the change in the amount of salt in crude oil, a conductometric measurement was performed. The amount of demulsifier used for phase separation was determined by changing the surface tension. The proposed solution for the use of chemicals to transport and purify crude oil yields tangible economic benefits. The article summarises the research procedures and presents the results for selected crude oil and chemicals.

W artykule zaprezentowano badania spienialności wód złożowych za pomocą środków powierzchniowo czynnych (SPCz) o handlowych nazwach BioLight 30/380, BioAcid 30/380 oraz BioCond Plus 30/380. Stosowane SPCz występowały w postaci świec pieniących. Wody poddawane testom pienienia charakteryzowały się różnorodnymi parametrami fizycznymi i chemicznymi, szczególnie pod kątem mineralizacji (260–311 664 mg/dm3) i zawartości substancji organicznych (0–102 mg/dm3). Testy wpływu środków pieniących na skuteczność spieniania i wynoszenia wód złożowych z odwiertu prowadzono na stanowisku laboratoryjnym symulującym kolumnę wydobywczą gazu ziemnego. Podczas testów pienienia wód złożowych, prowadzonych kolejno z dawkami środków powierzchniowo czynnych: 1,5 g/m3, 3,0 g/m3 oraz 5,0 g/m3, wykonywano pomiary: napięcia powierzchniowego wody, objętości wytworzonej piany w funkcji czasu oraz wypienionej wody złożowej. Kryterium wyboru efektywności działania środka powierzchniowo czynnego dla badanej wody było jej skuteczne wynoszenie w strukturze piany z instalacji symulującej zawodniony odwiert gazowy oraz minimalizacja dawki wprowadzanego do wody środka pianotwórczego. Wyniki przeprowadzonych badań laboratoryjnych uzyskane w ramach realizowanej pracy umożliwiły zaproponowanie efektywnie działających środków powierzchniowo czynnych w kontekście spieniania i wynoszenia wód złożowych z odwiertu. W praktyce powiązanie wyników badań laboratoryjnych z rodzajem i dawkowaniem środków pieniących, z właściwościami wody złożowej i parametrami eksploatacji złoża gazu pozwoli na wskazanie, jakie środki i w jakich ilościach mogą w efektywny sposób usprawnić eksploatację danego rodzaju złoża gazu ziemnego. Wyniki prac przyczynią się do zwiększania stopnia sczerpania zasobów geologicznych złóż węglowodorów.

A major problem in natural gas production is the waterlogging of gas wells. This problem occurs at the end of a well’s life when the reservoir pressure becomes low and the gas velocity in the well tubing is no longer sufficient to bring the gas-related fluids (water and gas condensate) up to the surface. This causes water to accumulate at the bottom of the gas well, which can seriously reduce or even stop gas production altogether. This paper presents a study of the foaming of reservoir water using foaming sticks with the trade names BioLight 30/380, BioCond 30, BioFoam 30, BioAcid 30/380, and BioCond Plus 30/380. The reservoir waters tested came from near-well separators located at three selected wells that had undergone waterlogging and experienced a decline in natural gas production. They were characterised by varying physical and chemical parameters, especially in terms of mineralisation and oil contaminant content. Laboratory studies on the effect of foaming agents on the effectiveness of foaming and lifting of reservoir water from the well were carried out on a laboratory bench, simulating a natural gas-producing column using surfactant doses in the range of 1.5–5.0 g/m³ and measuring the surface tension of the water, the volume of foam generated as a function of time and the foamed reservoir water. The performance criterion for the choice of surfactant for the test water was its effective lifting in a foam structure from an installation, simulating a waterlogged gas well and minimising the dose of foaming agent introduced into the water. The results obtained from the laboratory tests allowed the selection of effective surfactants in the context of foaming and uplift of reservoir water from wells, where a decline in natural gas production was observed as a result of their waterlogging. In the next stage, well tests were carried out based on laboratory studies to verify their effectiveness under conditions typical for the production site. Tests carried out at natural gas wells showed that the removal of water from the bottom of the well resulted in an increase in natural gas production, ranging from 56.3% to 79.6%. In practice, linking the results of laboratory tests for the type and dosage of foaming agents to the properties of reservoir water and gas production parameters made it possible to identify the types of surfactants and their dosages that improve the production of a given type of natural gas reservoir in an effective manner, resulting in an increase in the degree of depletion of hydrocarbon deposits.