Wax inhibitors for oil compositions and methods of using wax inhibitors to reduce wax deposition from oil

A method of reducing wax deposition from an oil, the method comprising adding to said oil an effective amount of a wax inhibitor that comprises at least one modified alpha-olefin maleic anhydride copolymer of the formula:

• wherein R1 is selected from hydrogen or hydrocarbyl groups containing 12-60 carbon atoms and an average carbon atom number of R1, if not hydrogen, in the copolymer is in a range from 20 to 32, R2 is selected from hydrocarbyl groups containing 6-12 carbon atoms, and n is a number of repeating units ranging from 1 to 100.

An oil composition comprising an oil and an effective amount of a wax inhibitor, said wax inhibitor prepared by reacting an alpha-olefin containing from 8 to 14 carbon atoms with maleic anhydride in the presence of a free radical initiator to obtain a high molecular weight copolymer, followed by reacting said high molecular weight copolymer with an alcohol mixture with an average number of carbon atoms in a range from 20 to 32.

A method of reducing wax deposition from an oil, the method comprising adding to said oil an effective amount of a wax inhibitor, said wax inhibitor prepared by reacting an alpha-olefin containing from 8 to 14 carbon atoms with maleic anhydride in the presence of a free radical initiator to obtain a high molecular weight copolymer, followed by reacting said high molecular weight copolymer with an alcohol mixture with an average number of carbon atoms in a range from 20 to 32.