1. By Jerry Noles
Jason Watts
and Troy Bishop
NEWCASTLE, OK.–Even before the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
rolled out new hydraulic fracturing regu-
lations and prior to any requirements for
public disclosure of completion fluids’
chemical makeup, the oil and gas industry
was spearheading the development and
usage of environmentally friendly products
and services.
This new frontier looks to have great
potential with almost every major operator
embracing more “enviro-conscious” ap-
plications–in some cases, even demanding
them. The simple fact is that the industry
is as progressive as ever, welcoming
process improvement and showing open-
ness to ideas from all kinds of sources.
Green well completions soon will be-
come the new industry standard. This year,
the EPA has rolled out new rules under
the Clean Air Act to restrict what oil and
gas companies emit into the air. These
new mandates are intended to reduce as
much as 95 percent of potentially harmful
emissions, with the EPA planning to require
almost all new fractured wells to incorporate
green completions technology by 2015.
This regulation marks an initial EPA
foray into the fracturing process. Although
many major operators have made great
strides to bring awareness and education to
communities regarding fracturing processes,
the technology remains a point of contention
for many environmental groups and neigh-
borhoods close to drilling activity.
Some energy company executives and
industry advocacy groups are calling the
new mandates a step toward greenhouse
gas regulations for the oil and gas industry.
So, what is green completion technology
and how do “green” chemicals fit in? Since
its inception, the term has referred to a
method of capturing natural gas otherwise
lost during a well’s completion cycle.
After a well is fractured, the well bore
must be cleared of zonal isolation plugs,
frac sand, completion fluids and other con-
taminants. This normally is performed in
an underbalanced condition, allowing the
well to flow back throughout the process.
At this stage, oil and gas typically flow
from the reservoir, returning to the surface
with the flow back, where the fluids and
solids are removed and any unwanted gas
is vented or flared to the atmosphere
That is no longer the case. This new
mandated technology should ensure the
capture of the profitable asset, releasing
Green Completions Include Chemistry
As oil and gas companies incorporate green approaches into their standard practices,
the industry advances along a continuum of progressing environmental sensitivity.
Thanks to major advancements in the application of organic chemistry, tailored green
completion chemicals illustrate an effective, cost-competitive green technology.
The “Better Business” Publication Serving the Exploration / Drilling / Production Industry
SEPTEMBER 2012
Reproduced for CoilChem LLC with permission from The American Oil & Gas Reporter www.aogr.com

2. less of it into the atmosphere and bringing
more dollars to the operator. Considering
how many leading operators already in-
corporate this technology, this is likely
to prove merely the leading edge of frac-
turing regulation. As green technology
proves effective and better for the envi-
ronment, additional regulations mandating
its use will follow close behind.
Because most wells are completed in
an underbalanced condition, with no fluids
lost to the formation during cleanouts
and plug removals, the chemicals used
during this stage mostly have been over-
looked. Previously left out of the debate,
coiled tubing and workover drill-outs are
attracting increasing attention as processes
that also merit the same level of attention
that has yielded the frac frenzy.
The industry continues to use the same
types of chemicals in completion and
workover operations that have been used
in other applications, but many of them
can be harsh and inefficient at best. Mean-
while, the government’s attempts to get
a handle on this process do not seem to
include any magic bullets. Traditional
methods have worked to an extent, so
there has been no external pressure to fa-
cilitate change. That pressure has mate-
rialized through the fracturing debate and
spilled over to this critical process.
Use And Reuse
For some reason, environmentally
friendly or “green” chemicals carry the
connotation of inferior performance. How-
ever, case studies in practically every
major U.S. basin prove the truth is entirely
different. Thanks to major advancements
in the application of organic chemistry, a
growing number of tailored chemicals
are displacing their predecessors success-
fully. This has been driven in part by the
need to minimize the amount of water
used during completion–since volumes
can top 10 million gallons for a single
horizontal shale well–with operators con-
stantly seeking new ways to reuse or re-
circulate fracturing fluids. Therefore, min-
imizing the associated chemical applica-
tions and waste byproducts has pushed
operators to take a hard look at the fluid’s
entire life cycle.
It is not unusual for initial oil production
to yield three barrels of water for every
barrel of crude. More than 30 percent of
the fluid volumes used in typical frac op-
erations will flow back during an opera-
tion’s clean-up phase. This precious re-
source remains a most coveted asset in
any basin. Operators in drought stricken
areas often find themselves competing
with one another for fresh water, and bar-
ring action, the situation lacks any obvious
resolution. If necessity is the mother of
invention, that cliché never has been more
applicable than in the case of fresh water.
One of the main driving forces behind
completion water recycling or “keeping it
in the loop” is the fact that recent EPA
regulations and water conservation mandates
are controlling the volume of water operators
can consume from certain bodies of water.
Combined with the fact that the number of
permits granted for new disposal wells has
dropped drastically during the last decade,
water recycling poses operational challenges.
The fact that the waters tend to contain
high amounts of dissolved solids as well
as high chloride content poses a genuine
challenge to even the most seasoned water
treatment engineers and chemists. Many
technologies are arising to combat these
problems, and while many of them prove
very ecologically effective, not all of them
are equally cost effective.
Many operators have implemented
fluid management systems that are targeted
at developing new ways to recycle the
fluids from every operational stage. These
new processes have begun to reduce fluid
disposal volumes and have attracted close
scrutiny to all chemicals used during
every phase of drilling and completion.
Integrating Isolated Processes
Green completion chemicals have
proven capable of increasing completion
depth between 500 and 1,600 feet beyond
conventional chemicals. This phenomenon
could be dismissed if it was not backed
by millions of feet logged in chemical
application databases. Certainly a new
wave of green technology has arrived.
Developing a better understanding of
green chemical usage and application has
been key to the success of the new organic
chemistry. Many forward thinking com-
panies understand the wave that is cresting
in green technology and have opened a
market for improved process control to
introduce and track these chemicals
through the completion phase and into
the fluids’ entire life cycle.
This technically sophisticated appli-
cation helps to balance a less precise ap-
proach. Before these new process con-
trollers, problems often were diagnosed
and addressed through the guesswork of
trial and error. For years, selecting chem-
icals for workover and completion opera-
tions often has been based on their suc-
cessful use in other upstream applications.
With these new process controls at oper-
ators’ fingertips, chemical application is
approaching a more scientific methodology.
Integrating finite control to chemical
application and software tracking that
models chemicals in the well bore helps
operators better understand the direct im-
plications of when and why certain chem-
icals are called for. These systems have
allowed operators to substantially reduce
the amount of chemicals in the fluid system
while improving operational efficiencies.
Such software tracking programs help
oil and gas producers control the chemical
application process and end the “pump
and dump” long associated with roller
coaster chemical bills. It brings control
to an aspect of operations that otherwise
has been difficult to manage. Adjusting
the process from one involving five gallon
buckets and batch mixing to one involving
sophisticated introduction and job mod-
eling systems potentially removes a myriad
of issues. The number one concern is hu-
man error at a time in which the oil and
gas industry is experiencing a dilution of
field level experience. Moreover, when
considering how important the process
is to an operation’s success, it is worth
considering that even the most experienced
field employee must deal with elements
of weather, fatigue and complacency.
While most of these advanced systems
need a technical operator, the equipment
and software do the calculations. Technical
employees running the systems simply
make sure the systems are monitored and
maintained properly.
Cumulative Cost Savings
Along with control comes the all-im-
portant issue of cost. Monitoring and
maintaining chemical use during com-
pletion helps eliminate waste and remove
the possibility of pumping–and paying
for–unnecessary chemicals.
The issue of cost is an ongoing point of
misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
In most cases, incorporating green com-
pletion chemicals or processes has costs
comparable to traditional methods. In many
cases, the costs drop considerably when all
elements of the operation are counted.
Many companies have begun to use smart
fluidmanagementasoneaspectofimproving
their operations’overall efficiency.
Considering an operation from the
30,000 foot, big-picture perspective reveals
one of the many reasons driving cost re-
SpecialReport: Horizontal & Innovative Drilling

3. duction. Limiting the basis only to a
chemical’s cost per gallon or the price
tag for a new piece of equipment skews
the value. If a new process or piece of
technology has the potential to reduce
overall cost by 10 percent or more, but
the singular component costs more per
unit than “what we’ve always used,”
short-sightedness can win out.
Many operators and service companies
are so entrenched in process and over-
whelmed with the constant barrage of
the next best thing they may find it easy
to overlook something with the potential
to revolutionize their operations and di-
rectly improve their revenues. By de-
manding greener improvements in all
areas of drilling and completion, bold
companies will continue to change our
industry for the better.
We need to continuously challenge our-
selves and redefine the term green. How
green is green enough and what will green
look like next year or even next decade? It
is proving to be an evolutionary term.
Green completions are not only about
reducing carbon emissions or even low-
ering the toxicity levels of chemicals that
are used. It is about management and
sustainability of our resources. It is about
being responsible and accountable to our
employees, our environment and our so-
ciety. Being a green company should not
be only a term to highlight but an obliga-
tion we fulfill for our industry’s health
and longevity. Ì
JERRY
NOLES
Jerry Noles is owner, chief executive
officer and technical director of
CoilChem LLC. He has more than three
decades’ experience in snubbing, well
control, workover and coiled tubing
operations. Noles participated in com-
pleting both the first successful hori-
zontally drilled well with coiled tubing
in the lower 48 states and the first hor-
izontal shale well with coiled tubing.
Noles holds multiple patents related to
horizontal drilling, has been instrumental
in developing many industry standard
tools and techniques in coil tubing com-
pletions, and has written and lectured
extensively on the application of coiled
tubing and drilling operations.
JASON
WATTS
Jason Watts is co-owner and vice pres-
ident of manufacturing, research and de-
velopment for CoilChem LLC. His multi-
disciplinary study and experience spans
multiple industries, including oil and gas,
waste water treatment, and pulp and
paper chemical applications. Watts began
his career in the pulp and paper industry
as production manager for Macallen
Chemical, where he played a key role in
product development with the formulation
of vinyl chemistries and polymeric reactions
as well as process design, sales and tech-
nical support. Watts was co-owner of Pre-
cision Process Chemicals where he spe-
cialized in well corrosion protection and
emulsion breaker technologies.
TROY
BISHOP
Troy Bishop is vice president of sales
and marketing at CoilChem LLC. His
oil and gas industry career began in
2001 as a vice president of venture de-
velopment for a boutique private equity
energy firm, where he prospected, de-
veloped and capitalized multiple well
joint venture drilling programs. Re-
cruited to a larger firm in 2003, he ne-
gotiated the sale/acquisition of multiple
oil related assets.
SpecialReport: Horizontal & Innovative Drilling