Nalco Teams With Stepan For Oil

Surfactants producer Stepan and water treatment chemical firm Nalco are forming a joint venture, Tiorco, to market their combined line of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) chemicals. Stepan makes surfactants for EOR while Nalco supplies polymers. The venture will also market Nalco's new BrightWater technology, developed in conjunction with BP and Chevron. BrightWater particles expand to many times their size upon activation, clogging pores in rock and directing oil toward wells. "Prior to creation of the Tiorco joint venture, customers assembled components of their EOR projects on a piece-by-piece basis," Nalco CEO J. Erik Fyrwald says.