One of the problems offshore is the availability of fresh water. LPLB's are designed to be run in seawater or fresh water. Preparing a fracturing fluid in seawater posed problems in that the formation waters of many pay zones have the potential for forming scale when mixed with seawater. A scale inhibition system was found that gave complete protection to the worst formation waters. This system has been incorporated into the LPLB fracturing fluid.
Storage is always at a premium on marine vessels.
The tanks can only hold a finite amount of water whether seawater or fresh water. The size of jobs was increasing and a way to perform larger jobs had to be found. A quick hydrating gel on the fly system was developed. One of its major advantages is the ability to monitor and change the viscosity of the gel coming to the blender tub in less than 2 minutes. This allows engineers to start out with a heavier gel in the pad for leakoff control then to lighter gels in later stages as you approach the point where a tip screenout is needed.