Today we're going to take a look at what lab and QCs do in oil and gas service companies.
Many oil and gas service companies that provide hydraulic fracturing and coiled tubing services have
an in-house lab that tests chemicals, optimizes treatments and provides support during the field
operations. Even smaller oil and gas companies usually rely on the lab by contacting third-party
lab services to test chemicals for them. In most cases to work in the lab you will need to have a
Bachelor's degree in chemistry or a similar field. It also helps if
you have previous oil and gas experience or an internship with the oil and gas company.
The lab is usually responsible for testing chemicals, fluids, and designing treatments for
various well completion and intervention operations. Because hydraulic fracturing
usually uses more chemicals than coiled tubing it relies heavier on the support of the lab.
Work fluids are often tested before the job to make sure that they're suitable for the operation.
The client usually ships a few pails of fluid before the job from the water source that this will be
used for the frac and the lab performs all the tests. So let's take a look at some common fluid
tests. Salinity testing is often performed because many times flowback fluid with high salt content
is used for operations. Using heavy brine for the job might affect what chemicals are used
and whether the fluid needs to be mixed with fresh water to lower salt content.
PH is often tested as well because high or low fluid PH might affect the performance
of many chemicals. Bacteria testing is sometimes performed before the job to determine how much
biocide is required for the job and whether the fluid needs to be pre-treated in advance.
Gel testing is performed to check that the gel can be created using the sample fluid sent by the
client. In addition to gel testing breaker testing is performed as well to ensure that the gel will
eventually break down in the well. Friction loop for flow testing is performed to find
the optimal loadings for the friction reducer for the fluid that is expected to be used for the job
and lastly, water analysis often performed to check what minerals are in the water. This helps
to determine if there is potential for scaling and whether the anti-scaling agent should be pumped
during the frac operation. Dissolved carbonates and sulfates in the water are known to cause scaling
in certain situations. Other common lab roles are finding alternative chemicals when the typical
chemicals used for the job are not available or not in stock. They also perform chemical testing to
make sure when the chemicals don't perform as expected during the frac operations
so what happens is that those chemicals sent to the lab for the evaluation to make sure the
chemical provider actually supplied the service company with the right chemicals. They also test
unknown fluids and chemicals that often come from the well after the operation to find out if those
unknown substances were caused because of the unexpected reactions between the chemicals used
during the job. They also perform chemical markets research to find new chemicals in order to improve
the efficiencies and lower the costs. Finding cheaper chemical alternatives can significantly
decrease the cost of the fracturing operations because usually a large amount of chemicals are pumped
during the job and even a small decrease in cost can have a significant increase in the margins for
the service companies. They also design the acid blends whenever acid is pumped during the job
to make sure that the acid will will not damage the formation
or casing or create any unwanted by-products. They also involved in frac program reviews
to make sure that the right chemicals are programmed and at the right concentrations
and lastly, they provide support to frac engineers and clients. The senior members of the
lab team often work closely with a frac engineers and coil engineers to find
new solutions for various downhole problems. They also sometimes attend pre-job and post-job client
meetings with sales and engineering members to provide support with any chemical related
questions that the client might have. So now let's take a look at what QCs do during the frac
operations. During hydraulic fracturing operations lab chemists are often sent to the field to test
chemicals and provide field support. Now let's take a look at the common frag\c QC field test. QCs often
perform proppant testing to ensure that the right size of sand is pumped. They also do gel testing
to ensure that the gel has the required viscosity as per treatment requirements. They do chemical
testing to ensure that the right chemicals at the right concentrations are shipped by a supplier.
There is always a potential that the chemical was mislabeled or moved into the wrong container
and QCs also check to ensure that all the required chemicals for
the job are available on the location. They also have access to all the safety data sheets and they can
provide them to the client or the frac crew when needed. They also check the quality of the fluid
during the job to make sure that nothing changes because if there is a change in fluid quality
chemical loadings need to be adjusted. They calculate chemical volumes, double-check that the
right concentrations of chemicals are being pumped downhole. They also checked the fluid temperature
and PH to make sure that the fluid is kept at the right temperature which is
important during the winter months to make sure that the chemicals will hydrate at the right
speed. They also update chemical loadings when the treatment changes and they provide support to the
client and the frac crew on location. Some clients on location might not be very familiar with all
the chemicals used during operations and they might have questions that the QCs can address
better than the frac crew. These are the main duties of a QC guy on location and hopefully you guys learned
something new in this video, please don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you guys later. Bye!