You thought you had your biocide treatment set for the frac job on a particular well. You’d tested the water and had your glut/quat mix on a “set and forget” track.

Then you find out that there was unexpected bacteria contamination from a truck hauling water, from a tank or blended produced water somewhere else. So now you have bacteria problems downhole, which can lead to corrosion, scaling, and well-souring.

Looks like you’re facing either a loss of production or you have to delay production to do a workover. This is along with the cost of the workover itself, which can run $100,000 or more in many cases.

Your next completion job can go much more smoothly, with one phone call to Orion Water Solutions.

Orion Water Solutions Chief Technologist Gary Griesenbeck lists three ways his company’s chlorine dioxide (ClO2) system eliminates bacteria-caused problems in frac jobs, no matter the source of your water.

“First, with ClO2 we can monitor changes in the treatment’s effectiveness, on the fly, as the frac progresses,” he says. “Unlike conventional biocides (i.e. glutaraldehyde), ClO2 is an oxidative biocide which allows you to measure the dosage effectiveness in real-time, as you’re pumping the job.”

By tracking key process indicators before and after ClO2 is injected, especially after bacteria-laden frac sand is mixed in, Orion’s technicians can determine changes in the bacteria level during the progress of the frac job. Monitoring and readjusting the dosage prevents overtreatment—which saves money on treatment—and it makes sure sufficient bacteria are destroyed to prevent problems downhole.

Second, because ClO2 is an oxidative biocide, it acts faster than poisons like glut. So if it’s determined that bacteria content has increased, ClO2 acts more quickly to return bacteria to acceptable levels.

Third, Orion technicians can treat tanks, pipelines and other water storage and transportation equipment before they’re put into use, eliminating hidden bacteria problems before they start.

Says Griesenbeck, “This is just like a surgeon sterilizing his instruments before surgery, to make sure they don’t introduce infection to a patient. We’re making sure that every drop of fluid that goes downhole is adequately treated so we don’t put bacteria in the formation.”

There are safety features to Orion’s system. Instead of pushing biocide into the mix, Orion uses a flow-based suction system to pull its ClO2 into the mixing chamber. When the flow stops, so does the injection of chlorine dioxide, and that helps prevent overdosing and mixing errors compared to systems that pump biocide under pressure.

By reducing the chances for bacteria-induced problems, Orion’s ClO2-based treatments offer a many-fold return on investment. More and more producers in the Permian Basin, Mid-Con, and Eagle Ford are turning to Orion for reliable biocide treatment. Call them this week to eliminate downhole bacteria issues.

Call us today at (432) 219-8100.