Investigating the Effect of High Pressures and Temperatures on Corrosion Inhibition for Water-Based Muds

Abstract

Corrosion is defined as gradual degradation of metal caused by a chemical or electrochemical reaction with its environment. In oil and gas sector, components can corrode at any stage in the life of a field starting from drilling through to abandonment. Recent estimations showed that corrosion costs the oil industry in US yearly around $170 billion. In general, 50% of the operating expenditures in the drilling sector worldwide are for taming corrosion in drill pipe and down-hole equipment. On the other hand, “a corrosion inhibitor is a substance when added in a small concentration to an environment reduces the corrosion rate of a metal exposed to that environment. Inhibitors often play an important role in the oil extraction and processing industries where they have always been considered to be the first line of defense against corrosion” (SLB Glossary). Since corrosion process in mostly due to chemical reaction on the surface of the metal under HPHT condition, water-based mud properties used are hence gre...