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Oil and gas fields encounter issues associated with clay minerals through drilling and production. Depending on the types of clay minerals, they pose the danger of swelling and migration upon exposure to incompatible water. Drilling introduces water through drilling mud, and production introduces water through different treatments such as acid stimulation and hydraulic fracturing.

The recovery of oil and gas from subterranean formations has been troublesome in formations that contain water-sensitive minerals, e.g., water-swellable clays, such as clays in the smectite group, and fines capable of migrating when disturbed, such as silica, iron minerals, and alkaline earth metal carbonates.

It has been common practice to add salts to the treatment fluids. The salts adsorb to the clay surfaces in an ion exchange process that can temporarily reduce the swelling and/or migration of the clays. Another method …