Drilling chemicals get a well built; production chemicals keep it earning. As a field ages it produces more water with every barrel of oil. Part of that water arrives emulsified into the crude and must be broken out before the oil can be sold; the water leaving the separators still carries residual oil that must be removed before it can be discharged or reinjected. Both jobs are done with chemistry, dosed continuously, tuned to the specific crude and water of each field. This section is our reference library for that chemistry — written in plain language, for the people who operate flow stations and buy the chemicals, in Nigeria and West Africa first.
Three, mainly. Crude-side demulsification:water produced with the oil forms a water-in-oil emulsion; a demulsifier injected at the wellhead or manifold breaks it so the crude meets its export specification for water and sediment (BS&W). Produced-water clarification: the water leaving the separators still carries fine oil droplets; a reverse demulsifier or water clarifier removes them so the water meets the oil-in-water limit for discharge or reinjection. Tank and sludge recovery: aged emulsion, wax, and solids accumulate at tank bottoms; batch chemical treatment recovers saleable crude from material that would otherwise be waste.
Nigerian fields make all three problems harder than the textbook case: many mature Niger-Delta wells run high water cuts, the crudes are waxy with very little asphaltene, and treating temperatures at flow stations are low. Chemistry designed for a typical world crude is often the wrong tool here — which is why this library pays close attention to what makes Nigerian emulsions different.
Reference pages we verify against primary sources — regulator documents, operator tenders, published field studies — and update as the facts change. No forms, no gating.
More is in production: a bottle-test procedure guide with a data-reporting template, produced-water discharge limits in plain language, and a demulsifier-vs-water-clarifier explainer.
Ironstone is building its production-chemicals line and wants Nigerian partners in it from the start — manufacturer verification, formulation questions worked through jointly, and test planning behind your registrations and field relationships. If you hold or are pursuing NUPRC product approvals and want deeper technical support behind you, message us on WhatsApp to talk about what a partnership could look like.