Ortho ester breakers for viscoelastic surfactant gels and associated methods

Abstract

Many methods are provided including a method comprising: providing a surfactant gel having a first viscosity that comprises an aqueous base fluid and a surfactant; providing an ortho ester breaker; contacting the surfactant gel with the ortho ester breaker; allowing the ortho ester breaker to hydrolyze to produce an acid and an alcohol; and allowing the acid and/or the alcohol to interact with the surfactant gel so as to reduce the first viscosity of the surfactant gel to a second viscosity. Other methods are provided that include a method comprising: providing a surfactant gel that comprises an aqueous base fluid and a surfactant having a first viscosity; placing the surfactant gel into a subterranean formation; providing an ortho ester breaker; contacting the breaker with the surfactant gel; allowing the breaker to hydrolyze to produce an acid and an alcohol; and allowing the acid and/or the alcohol to interact with the surfactant gel so as to reduce the first viscosity of the surfactant gel to a second viscosity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.