Nano Nano!

If you don’t have time to spare reading the whole paper, here are the nuts and bolts of the main applications of nano in the oil and gas industry:

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR):
Adjusting the size of the nanoparticles (NPs) can alter the porosity and permeability of the contact surface. Different nanoparticles can be used among other applications, to alter wettability, reduce oil viscosity or interfacial tension, or even reduce formation damage in some cases.

Drilling Fluids:
Different nano particles can be used to achieve different results such as altering rheological and filtration properties, and in some cases, improve characteristics including hole or wellbore stability, electrical resistivity, or lubricity of the drilling fluid. These improvements can be tweaked through changes in temperature and concentration of the nanoparticles.

Cementing:
For cementing applications, different nano particles may improve things like electrical resistivity, mechanical properties, compressive strength, or even accelerations to setting time.

Well Stimulation:
For well stimulation, different NPs, like in other nano applications produce different results. For example, Silicon Dioxide tends to reduce adsorption capacity or permeability damage and improve filtration and rheological properties for hydraulic fracturing applications.