Patent ID: 7468402

Claim:
A method of reducing drag of a fluid comprising: providing the fluid selected from the group consisting of water; mixtures of hydrocarbons and water; mixtures of hydrocarbons, water and gas; mixtures of hydrocarbons, water and solids; mixtures of hydrocarbons, water, gas and solids; mixtures of water, gas, and solids; and mixtures of water and solids; and adding a polymeric nanoemulsion drag reducer to the fluid in an amount effective to reduce the drag thereof, where the polymeric nanoemulsion drag reducer comprises: a hydrocarbon external phase, droplets of an aqueous internal phase having water-soluble polymer dissolved therein, where the droplets have an average particle size below 300 nm, and at least one surfactant of a kind and amount effective to form a stable nanoemulsion of the droplets in the hydrocarbon external phase.