|
From the late 1950’s through 1972,
N.A. Neely,
father of Jerry and Richard Neely, was the owner and operator of Well
Production Company, located in Farmington, New Mexico. He was a contract
pumper and handled in excess of 100 wells in the San Juan Basin area.
Mr. Neely was constantly looking for procedures or products, which would
assist in increasing the gas and oil production in the wells he
operated. He charted each well in order to understand their particular
monthly production cycles and characteristics.
He knew that scale and paraffin reduced production in wells throughout
the San Juan Basis area. He decided to develop a product to address this
concern. Mr. Neely contacted numerous chemical companies and began what
was to become a 5-year development program. He would describe the
results he was seeking with various chemical companies. They would in
turn ship him certain components to mix and test. There were few, if any
EPA or hazardous chemical requirements in the 50’s, so there was great
latitude in chemical availability and use.
He began an extensive test program on his wells and was able to improve
gas and oil production. Based on his initial success he extended the
test program into Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Mr. Neely died in 1989 in Tucson, Arizona. After his death, Mrs. Neely
wanted to return to Farmington. She had slightly less than one barrel of
the chemical in her garage. She contacted the Tucson Fire Department for
assistance in disposing of the chemical. After completing several tests
on the chemical, the fire department representatives told Mrs. Neely,
“It won’t hurt anything, pour it down the drain.” She retained
five gallons and moved to Farmington in the summer of 1989.
In the spring of 1992, Mrs. Neely became terminally ill. She asked her
sons to locate the chemical formula and production history. When prior
clients were contacted, without exception, the comments were positive
and they encouraged the sons to renew production. The general comment
was, “We have not seen anything like it since your father left
Farmington.”
The 20 year old product was tested with paraffin and scale samples from
local wells. In laboratory tests the product dissolved the paraffin,
dispersed scale and prevented corrosion of nails.
It was realized that some changes would have to be made due to current
EPA requirements. New formulations of the product were made and tested
to meet EPA standards. The results with the same paraffin and scale
samples were positive when compared with previous tests. A contract
laboratory assisted with the completion of a MSDS (Material Safety Data
Sheet) document to ensure EPA compliance.
A major oil and gas company located in Farmington agreed to establish a
test program on two wells with paraffin and scale problems. After a
batch treatment (one drum of 54GO™
followed with 30-40 barrels of heated
water) oil and gas production increased in both wells. The company
expanded the program due to the positive results. Additional information
was needed, specifically technical information. Additional laboratory
analysis was contracted in 1992. The company allowed their well samples
to be used for these tests. In the spring of 1993, after testing, a
commitment was received from the company to test 54GO™ in conjunction
with hydraulic fracture stimulation of wells. Additional tests revealed
the compatibility of 54GO™ with chemical provided by the service
companies. The fracs were completed with positive results. In one
particular well the onset of production decline did not occur until
twice the time observed for a normal well in the same formation. This
significantly increased the economic return for this stimulation job.
The patent process was started at this time, and a US Patent was granted
in September of 1997.
|
