THE Bureau of Mines has made a preliminary study of the so-called " paraffining" of oil wells and methods of preventing and remedying that trouble. The increased difficulties in operation and the losses of production caused by the deposition of gummy and waxy hydrocarbons, commonly called paraffin, in the wells, tubing, other pumping equipment, and in the pores of the productive sands, have long been recognized but the trouble has not been overcome. The nature and causes of the trouble, together with some of the possible methods by which it may be diminished or overcome, are outlined in Serial 2550, recently issued by the bureau.
Present methods for preventing and removing paraffin are not all that is to be desired. The cost of cleaning out paraffin is high and the results seem to be only temporarily beneficial. Wells that have increased their rates of production several hundred per cent. upor} being cleaned, often go back to their old rates of production within three or four weeks after they are cleaned. The problem then is not only to clean the wells beneficially and economically, but to maintain the beneficial effects long enough to make the operation profitable. The redeposition, of the paraffin and associated substances, especially calcium carbonate, must be retarded or prevented. The problem is one worthy of considerable investigation, and is one which the Bureau of Mines hopes to attack further in the near future.