Corrosion inhibitors are typically applied in oil and gas production to mitigate corrosion
caused by the presence of acidic gases. The laboratory testing performed when evaluating
corrosion inhibitors normally only assesses inhibitor efficacy in preventing general corrosion.
However, the majority of corrosion failures that occur in oil and gas production can be
attributed to localized corrosion. This paper describes the laboratory selection procedure
performed to develop a corrosion inhibitor that was effective in preventing both localized and
general corrosion. The results illustrate that to mitigate localized corrosion, a substantially
higher inhibitor dose rate is required compared to the concentration needed to prevent general
corrosion. The paper also gives details of the successful deployment of the corrosion inhibitor
in an offshore oilfield. Corrosion monitoring data obtained from the field demonstrates that the
product developed is providing effective corrosion protection and reduces the corrosion rate to
< 0.1 mm/yr.
Key Words: corrosion inhibitor, localized corrosion