In a deepwater operation, a formation had a much higher pore pressure than initially anticipated. After perforation, a large volume of crude oil entered the operator’s wellbore since pore pressure was above the hydrostatic pressure provided by the 9.8-lbm/galUS CaCl2 brine. The crude oil from this field is prone to form a strong emulsion when contacting with brine, and the emulsion was sticking to the tubing downhole.

To break the emulsion, pills with solvent were first tried, but because the flow rate was limited to 1–2 bbl/min, not enough turbulence could be achieved to break the emulsion. It was decided to treat the active system of 10.4-lbm/galUS CaCl2 brine with 0.5% SAFE-BREAK Prime universal nonemulsifier.