Hydrocarbon soluble polymer complexes useful as viscosifiers in fracturing operations

Claim 1

A process for fracturing a subterranean formation surrounding a gas or oil well which comprises injecting into said subterranean formation under hydraulic pressure a fluid comprising about 0.01 to about 25 weight percent of a water insoluble polymer complex dissolved in a solvent system comprising a nonpolar organic liquid, said polymer complex comprising the interaction product of a metal neutralized sulfonated polymer and an amine containing polymer, wherein the sulfonate content of the sulfonated polymer is about 4 meq. per 100 grams of polymer to about 100 meq. per 100 gram of polymer and the basic nitrogen content of the amine containing polymer is about 4 meq. per 100 gram of polymer to about 500 meq. per 100 gram of polymer, wherein said organic liquid is selected from the group consisting of paraffinic hydrocarbons, naphthenic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones, chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, cyclic aliphatic ethers, aliphatic ethers and organic aliphatic esters and mixtures thereof, wherein the amine containing polymer is a copolymer of vinylpyridine with other vinyl monomers which are selected from the group consisting of acrylates, methacrylates, alkyl acrylates, alkyl methacrylates, N-alkylacrylamide and N-alkylmethacrylamides and mixtures thereof, said acrylates or methacrylates, etc. having from about 6 to about 26 carbon atoms.