Subsurface generation of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), commonly known as reservoir souring, is a clearly identified but, still not fully understood phenomenon associated with water injection for secondary oil recovery. A large number of North Sea fields have been under seawater injection for many years, yet the majority are relatively poorly documented in terms of how and when souring developed and the amount of H2S being generated between injector and producer well pairs.
As part of ongoing work to verify the results of reservoir souring simulations, using empirical data, an exercise was undertaken to collate souring information from a number of older fields, with the objective of attempting to identify trends in, or factors impacting, souring development. A review of available historic data from the Gullfaks field was made; linking measured H2S values, well test data, water analyses and tracer data to identify long term souring patterns, the amount of H2S produced relative to injected water and to determine the effectiveness of the different mitigation strategies used in the field. The Gullfaks field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea began production in 1985 and has been widely cited in connection with the introduction of nitrate treatment as a mitigation method for reservoir souring.
A number of key observations were made for Gullfaks. Souring development appears to follow a dual pattern of initial production of H2S, coincident with or shortly after breakthrough of injection water, followed by a subsequent decline; thereafter, sometimes several years later, a gradual increase to much higher levels is recorded. This implies that different types of souring patterns are being observed.
On the basis of improved understanding of souring development and data availability, a review of the effectiveness of mitigation techniques used in the field was undertaken. The interpretation indicates that the previously reported effect attributed to use of nitrate could also be explained by the natural progress of souring development in the field.
The work flow and methods of data interpretation opens the way to further full field evaluations as a means of improving the precision of souring simulation and assessment of mitigation methods