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Abstract

Light tight oils are in general high API gravity feedstocks and lesser amounts of contaminants than many conventional crude oils. However, there is a series of challenges that need to be solved to ensure uninterrupted transportation and refining of these tight oils. Unlike most conventional crude oils, tight oils are light, sweet crude oils, with a high paraffin content, high volatility, and low acidity. They also have minimal asphaltene and resin constituents as well as varying contents of filterable solids, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and mercaptans (RSH). In addition, the streams from a tight oil production region can have significant variability, with colors ranging from pale amber to black.The challenges associated with the production of tight oils are a function of their compositional complexities and the varied geological formations where they are found. These oils are light, but they are very waxy and reside in oil-wet formations. These properties create some of the main difficulties associated with tight oil extraction. Such problems include scale formation, salt deposition, paraffin wax deposits, destabilized asphaltenes, corrosion and bacteria growth. Multi-component chemical additives are added to the stimulation fluid to control these problems.This chapter presents an introduction to the main challenges encountered with these feedstocks, including issues related to storage, transportation, and refining.