Chapter 17: Acid Fracturing Available to Purchase

The use of acid in the oil and gas industry dates to 1895. In some of the initial applications, the use of rubber or other corrosion-resistant coatings inside the wellbore tubulars (Frasch 1896) was prescribed because of the corrosive nature of hydrochloric acid (HCl). A significant increase in oil and gas production was seen in some of the first wells that were acidized by the Ohio Oil Company, but the interest in this technique eventually faded away, mostly because of the damage observed in the tubular goods in the well (Williams et al. 1979). The method, however, was revisited after 30 years, in 1928, especially because the injection of brine in disposal wells and natural brine production were becoming a challenge; though, as in the past, when acid was introduced in the wells, the tubing showed signs of corrosion. However, this also led to the initiation of a project to develop effective corrosion inhibitors. Eventually, after the invention of an arsenic inhibitor in 1931, an acid treatment was pumped on a “dead” oil well completed in a limestone formation in Isabella County, Michigan and owned by Pure Oil Company, resulting in as much as 16 B/D of oil. Some of the first wells treated with acid perhaps were acid fractured but were not recognized as such.