Gas hydrate formation can cause serious well safety and control problems during drilling and completion with water-based fluids. It is therefore vital that these fluids have adequate hydrate inhibition properties. Here, formate brines excel due to their very low water activities. In spite of the increased popularity of formate brines as well construction fluids over the past ten years, no hydrate prediction model has yet been developed for these brines. A limited number of measured hydrate equilibrium temperatures in formate brines are available and these are presented in this section of the manual. Comparison of the hydrate inhibiting properties of formate brines with well-known hydrate inhibitors, such as MEG, MEOH, and calcium chloride, indicate that they are very similar. 

 

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