Integrating Water Management Life Cycle Assessment in Upstream Oil and Gas: A Pathway to Enhanced Waterflood

Abstract

The urgency of optimizing water management in the oil and gas industry has never been more pronounced, as mega reservoirs and basins approach later life, especially against the backdrop of intensifying environmental regulations and the global push for sustainable practices. As conventional onshore and offshore oil developments mature, particularly in the context of the Middle East's carbonate reservoirs, the need for efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible water management strategies becomes paramount. This paper presents a comprehensive study aimed at integrating Water Management Life Cycle Assessment (WMLCA) in the context of Upstream activities. The study focuses on Produced Water Handling (PWH) and Water Injection (WI) systems. The model is built upon a bottom-up assessment of water-related costs and is positioned as a strategic tool for high-level cost / emission estimation and planning. By focusing on the conventional oil fields of the Middle East, the study steers clear of more complex scenarios such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and deep offshore developments, thus providing a clear, focused analysis relevant to the region's predominant operations. A critical component of this study is its alignment with ADNOC's net-zero ambitions and its broader Waterflood Excellence framework. The increasing relative volumes of produced water (PW) and water injection (WI), coupled with the imperative for emission reduction, present both challenges and opportunities. This study not only scrutinizes these aspects but also offers strategies to optimize waterflood processes, enhance water quality management, develop technologies, and contribute to ADNOC's sustainability goals. This paper explains how the complete WMLCA model was created, developed, and used. It shows the method, data, and the advanced analytics we used to make this happen. The paper wants to help industry professionals and stakeholders understand, plan, and use tools for water management in oil and gas operations.