Case Histories of Fiber Glass Tubing In Oil Field Service

Abstract

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for the 42nd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Oct. 1–4, 1967. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. Abstract Fiber glass tubing has been tested and proven under actual oil field conditions for a number of years. case histories are presented showing the wide applications of fiber glass tubing in the production of oil. Numerous examples-injection wells, disposal wells, submergible installations, pumping wells, etc. are given where the tubing has been in operation for seven years or more under very corrosive environments. Introduction As secondary recovery operations account for a larger share of a company's production, the company, in turn, is confronted with a major problem-corrosion. Although corrosion is an old oil field problem, it is becoming a much bigger one in terms of lost dollars and, in some fields, means a higher economic limit. Corrosion is not limited to secondary recovery operations, it is found in salt water disposal systems, producing wells, flow lines, and water supply wells. Various coatings and inhibitors have been used to protect steel tubing with varying degrees of success. Fiber glass epoxy tubing, which is completely resistant to oil field corrosion, has been on the market for a number of years. The acceptance of fiber glass tubing by the oil industry has been very good. Operators are using the tubing to replace steel in almost every type of oil field application. TUBING DESIGN Fiber glass tubing is composed of 73 to 75 weight percent glass roving and 25 to 27 weight percent epoxy resin.