About Third Wave
Third Wave Production (TWP) is a Texas LLC focused on energy-efficient enhancement of oil recovery from mature unconventional wells, particularly those that would benefit from environmentally-friendly, surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) treatments, which are significantly more energy efficient per incremental barrel produced than drilling and completing new wells . We are an aspiring operator looking to deploy differentiated recovery technology and intellectual property, not a service company wanting to sell products and services.
The company is led by highly experienced business and technical professionals in oil field development and surfactant-based EOR, and has undertaken a laboratory experimental program in collaborations with Texas A&M University and Louisiana State University to mature the technology. Field trials by Third Wave have proven economic viability, which when combined with cost and production optimization fundamentals in targeted acquisitions, serves as a foundation for significant value growth from surfactant stimulation.
Strategy
Unconventional wells typically only produce 5-10% of the oil originally in place, leaving a large resource behind. The wells targeted by TWP are progressing down their decline curve, where the opportunity is to extract more value from the “tail”, when current operators run out of options as the wells approach their economic limits. Proactive stewardship of hydrocarbon resources is a valuable skill in a world where the most desirable oil wells are ones that have already been drilled. TWP conservatively expects to be able to increase EUR by some 10%, helping meet global energy needs without requiring more drilling.
The target reservoirs are “oil-wet”, where, due to rock and fluid characteristics, the oil preferentially attaches to the mineral faces in the rock pore space, inhibiting oil recovery. Surfactants can alter this wettability to “water-wet”, imbibing water into the pores and expelling oil, as well as increasing the relative permeability to oil.
In summary, our strategy is to:
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Target completed, declining, unconventional wells ​
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Deploy stimulation treatments in partner or owned wells (pure huff & puff, localized “floods”)
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Use lab function to formulate surfactant stimulation treatments
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Sample fluids from owned wells to define stimulation chemistry
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Acquire surfactants and chemicals from known chemical producers (not service companies)
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Use “known” approaches to lift value
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Cost-focused operation
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Low cost well engineering improvements
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Create value from:
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Significant hydrocarbon recovery upside through energy-efficient surfactant stimulation implementation.
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Lower per bbl costs for ongoing oil production “plateau”
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