US 7,621,329 B1Granted

Methods of pumping fluids having different concentrations of particulate at different average bulk fluid velocities to reduce pump wear and maintenance in the forming and delivering of a treatment fluid into a wellbore

AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.

InventorsLeonard Case, Michael Segura, Harold Walters, Jason Bryant, Herbert Horinek, Jonn Thompson, Von Parkey, Shaun Burns, Billy Slabaugh

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Abstract

The invention is for a method of forming and delivering a treatment fluid into a wellbore. In one aspect, a method is provided for pumping a first fluid having a relatively high concentration of a particulate suspended therein and pumping a second fluid having either none of the particulate or a relatively low concentration of the particulate suspended therein, and then merging at least the first and second fluids to form a treatment fluid having a merged concentration of the particulate. According to this aspect, the first fluid has a relatively high concentration of a hydratable additive and the second fluid has either none or a relatively low concentration of the hydratable additive.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of forming and delivering a treatment fluid into a wellbore, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) pumping a first fluid comprising a first aqueous solution with a first positive-displacement pump;
(b) pumping a second fluid comprising a second aqueous solution with a second positive-displacement pump;
(c) merging at least the first and second fluids to form a treatment fluid, wherein the step of merging is after the steps of pumping the first and second fluids;
and then
(d) directing the treatment fluid into a wellbore;
wherein:
(i) the treatment fluid comprises a merged concentration of a particulate;
(ii) the first fluid comprises a first concentration of the particulate that is substantially higher than the merged concentration of the particulate;
(iii) the second fluid comprises a second concentration of the particulate that is substantially lower than the merged concentration of the particulate;
and
(iv) the first fluid is pumped at a substantially lower average bulk fluid velocity than the second fluid is pumped and
(v) the first, second, and treatment fluids are handled as fluid streams.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.