Future Challenges Due to the Increase Produced Water in Upstream of Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

An overview on the future challenges that the oil and gas production is facing in regards to the continuous increase of the produced water (effluent water), the volume of effluent water associated with crude oil production has been increasing due to the maturing of the oil fields, field developments forecasts can be used in order to estimate this increase, and develop the required mitigation methods. This paper discuss the future challenges which will occur due to the rapid increase of the produced water in the upstream oil and gas industry and demonstrate variances between possible solutions. This increment in the produced effluent water shall develop a huge challenges in achieving the required oil targets due to the limitation in capacities of the separation equipment's at the existing facilities, also the produced water handling facilities shall face a challenge in delivering this quantum of produced water to the produced water disposal/ injection plants. Limitation of available spaces at the existing facilities will be a challenge as well. To face such challenges several technology options were explored and a comparison study was done to compare among those options based on applicability and compatibility, where we can see that a adopting new separation technologies by knocking- out the free water using a portable separation unit can be an advisable solution, also avoiding the issue of limitation in space at the existing facilities by using a compact separation units or by upgrading the existing facilities and enhancing the separation at those facilities, We shall touch other experiences and compare between different technologies allowing us to share the knowledge and Skills from around the world.

Variability in Quantity and Salinity of Produced Water from an Oil Production in South Kuwait

“…As oilfields mature, oftentimes the water-cut, i.e., the proportion of PW in the produced fluid, increases [19] [20] [21] (see also above). Al-Jabri estimated that about 70% of the world's oil and gas production stems from mature fields, where these are in their secondary and tertiary production phases [22]. Renewable and other energy resources notwithstanding, production from these fields can make up more than one-half of the global energy mix for the next 2 decades [22], This is the reason why it is predicted that worldwide PW production will increase from about 250 million barrels per day in 2023 to around 605 million barrels per day in 20 years [23] [24] [25].…”

“…Al-Jabri estimated that about 70% of the world's oil and gas production stems from mature fields, where these are in their secondary and tertiary production phases [22]. Renewable and other energy resources notwithstanding, production from these fields can make up more than one-half of the global energy mix for the next 2 decades [22], This is the reason why it is predicted that worldwide PW production will increase from about 250 million barrels per day in 2023 to around 605 million barrels per day in 20 years [23] [24] [25]. Over 11 months of a monitoring the water cut of the produced fluid from the oilfield under investigation increased from 53.8% to 80.3%, having reached 81.2% at one time (Figure 12 and Table 5).…”