Review

A review of degradable magnesium alloys for oil and gas applications

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
² Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

^* e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 16 April 2024
Accepted: 17 January 2026

Abstract

The use of degradable magnesium alloys (DMAs) in the oil and gas industry has been on rise in the past 10 to 15 years. The most notable application of DMAs is hydraulic fracturing. All applications of DMAs have one thing in common which is to temporarily plug a flow path then corrode to reestablish flow without needing costly and time-consuming well intervention. This review paper provides a thorough guide for the use of DMAs for the oil and gas industry. It discusses hydraulic fracturing methods as well as other applications in the oil and gas industry that utilize DMAs. Several topics are also introduced, such as the effect of alloying elements, manufacturing methods, and methods to analyze the corrosion rate in the lab. Finally, the paper presents a list of DMAs that were collected from peer-reviewed journals summarizing their mechanical and corrosion properties.