Patent ID: 8003575

Claim:
A method for treating a hydrocarbon well to inhibit scale formation in the well, comprising the steps of: A) Obtaining an aqueous composition for treating hydrocarbon wells comprising: (i) from about 0.1 to 20 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the composition, of a scale inhibitor selected from phosphate ester scale inhibitors, phosphonic acid based scale inhibitors, phosphonocarboxylic acids, polymeric polyanionic scale inhibitors, and mixtures thereof; (ii) a viscoelastic surfactant comprising a hydrophobic moiety of alkyl, alkylarylalkyl, alkoxyalkyl, alkylaminoalkyl or alkylamidoalkyl, wherein the alkyl represents a group containing from about 16 to about 24 carbon atoms; and (iii) from 0 to less than 1% by weight of acid selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, formic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, maleic acid, hydrofluoric acid, boric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid and mixtures thereof; and B) Introducing the aqueous composition into the well.