Water Injection – Process & Facilities

Sankar Kuttaiyan
13th February 2013
 Overview

 Safety Moment: Aerosol Cans in Cars

 Introduction
 Three Phases of Oil Field Development
 What is / Why Water Injection?
 Videos - WI
 Water Injection System
 Sea Water Lifting & Filtering
 De-Oxygenation & Pumping
 Produced Water Re-Injection System
 PW Treatment
 The Cost of Water Injection
 Advantages of Water Injection
 Conclusion
SAFETY MOMENT
Safety Moment: Aerosol Cans in Cars
 Safety Moment: Aerosol Cans in Cars

 This information has been reprinted from a published

newsletter on August 12, 2003 for the San Antonio Works
EHS Department:
 Do you keep deodorant spray, hair spray, etc. in your
vehicle? If so, you might want to reconsider.
 The incident pictured happened at a refinery in Beaumont,
Texas.
 A deodorant spray can was left in the back of the vehicle that
was parked in an open space in the middle of a hot, sunny
day.
 Without warning, the can exploded inside the car.
Fortunately, no one was inside or near the car when it
happened.
INTRODUCTION
 Introduction

 HC reservoirs are comprised of natural rock formations which are

permeated with a mixture of HCs and water. Due to their underground
nature and temperature, reservoirs are usually under considerable
pressure.
 As fluid is extracted from a reservoir, the pressure underground often
slowly reduces, having the consequence of reducing the flow to the
producing well area. In addition, the rate at which the fluid migrates to the
well may also reduce.
 The life of an oil well goes through THREE distinct phases where various
techniques are employed to maintain crude oil production at maximum
levels.
 The primary importance of these techniques is to force oil into the
production well.
 As the exploited reservoirs mature, the quantity of water produced
increases.
THREE PHASES OF OIL
FIELD DEVELOPMENT
 Three Phases of Oil Field Development

1. PRIMARY RECOVERY:
 In primary recovery, oil is forced out by pressure generated from gas present
in the oil.
 Only recovers 30% to 35% of OOIP.

2. SECONDARY RECOVERY:
 In secondary recovery, the reservoir is subjected to water flooding (injection)
or gas injection to maintain a pressure that continues to move oil to the
surface.
 WI can recover anywhere from 5% to 50% of the oil that is remaining in the
reservoir.

3. TERTIARY RECOVERY:
 Tertiary recovery, also known as EOR, introduces fluids that reduce viscosity
and improve flow. These fluids could consist of gases that are miscible with
oil (typically CO2), steam, polymer solutions, etc.,
 EOR can increase production from a well to up to 75% recovery.
 Three Phases of Oil Field Development (cont.)

Primary
Recovery
Conventional Recovery

Natural Flow Artificial Lift

Secondary
Recovery

Water Injection Gas Injection

Tertiary
Recovery
EOR

Solvent
Thermal Chemical
(miscible)
WHAT IS / WHY WATER
INJECTION?
 What is / Why Water Injection?

What is Water Injection?

Water Injection is a method where water will be injected into
the reservoir to achieve:
 Pressure support of the reservoir (increase / maintain).
 To sweep or displace the oil from the reservoir, and push it towards an
oil production well consequently stimulating oil recovery.

Why Water Injection?

 Water flooding (recover oil)
 By WI, the recovery can be improved and helps to maintain the
production rate of the field over a long period of time.
 PW disposal.
 Water Injection – Videos

 Water Injection – Videos

WATER INJECTION SYSTEM
 Water Injection System

 The quality of the water for injection will be required to be of a standard

that will not cause problems such as plugging and/or scaling of the
injection equipment & reservoir rock. This is an important issue,
especially offshore, where drilling a new well is extremely expensive.
 In addition, because a reservoir is effectively sterile, injecting water
containing oxygen and bacteria can cause 'souring' of the reservoir.
 A 'sour' reservoir is one where there is the presence of hydrogen
sulphide (H2S) in the HCs.
 Souring reduces the value of the produced HCs and requires expensive
production equipment and materials to cope with the aggressive nature
of the produced fluids.
 Typical contaminants that need to be removed from injection water are:
 HCs
 Dissolved Gases (CO2, H2S, O2)
 Microorganisms
 Solids
 Scaling compounds such as sulphate
 SRB
 Water Injection System (Cont.)

 The major components of WI system are:

 Sea Water Lift Pumps
 Coarse Filters
 Fine Filters
 De-Oxygenation Towers
 Booster Pumps
 Main Injection Pumps
 Chemical Dosing system
− Flocculants / Coagulants
− Scale Inhibitor
− Corrosion Inhibitor
− Chlorination
− Bactericide
− Oxygen Scavenger
 Water Injection System (Cont.)

Sea Water Treatment for Water Injection - BFD

 Water Injection System (Cont.)

 Sea Water Lifting & Filtering

 Water from sea is lifted with sea water lift pumps and fed to coarse
filter and fine filters for filtering.
− Coarse Filters: the particles are filtered to 20 microns
− Fine Filters: the particles are filtered up to 2 microns
 Poly electrolyte and coagulants are added in sea water lift pump
discharge to promote coagulation of suspended particles.
 Water Injection System (Cont.)

Sea Water Lifting - Filtration

 Water Injection System (Cont.)

 De-Oxygenation & Pumping

 The filtered water flows to De-oxygenating towers for removal of

oxygen.
 De-oxygenation prevents formation of aerobic bacterial colonies
(SRB) in the WI flow lines. Vacuum pumps and oxygen scavenger
chemical dozed facilitates oxygen removal in the towers.
 Booster pumps take suction from de-oxygenation towers and feed
main injection pumps.
 Scale inhibitors, Bactericide and Corrosion inhibitor chemicals are
dozed in the discharge of booster pumps.
 MIP’s discharge the treated water to WI subsea pipelines to wells and
well platforms for injecting in to WI wells.
 Water Injection System (Cont.)

De-Oxygenation & Injection

 PRODUCED WATER
RE-INJECTION SYSTEM
 Produced Water Re-Injection System

 In many situations, the most convenient fluid for injection is

the produced water from the well. Injection is also a
convenient method of produced water disposal.
 The water produced along with oil & gas from the wells is to
be treated to within acceptable levels of quality in terms of oil
ppm before it is discharged in to the sea / re-injected.
 The main components of the water stream that is separated
are:
 Water
 Suspended / Dissolved oil
 Suspended solids (scale, corrosion products, sand, etc.,)
 Dissolved solids
 Dissolved gases (CO2, H2S, O2)
 Bacteriological matter
 Produced Water Re-Injection System (Cont.)

Produced Water Treatment & Injection

 Produced Water Re-Injection System (Cont.)

 The PW from separators is degassed in the PW degasser vessel

and then routed to the PW surge tank for initial oil-water
separation.
 Separated water from crude oil wash tank is pumped to the surge
tank. The pump used here is called “progressive cavity pump”
which will not disturb further oil & water separation.
 The PW then flows into IGF units. The IGF vessels operate using
a floatation process whereby fine gas bubbles are introduced in
the stream of oily water.
 These bubbles will lift the oil globules together along with any
suspended particles towards the liquid surface forming “froth” on
the water surface which is removed on a continuous basis,
overflowing the weir into the oil water reject compartment.
 Produced Water Re-Injection System (Cont.)

 A controlled RT system in each cell of the IGF vessel creates a

very efficient secondary polishing stage in the PW treatment
system.
 The water from IGF units is pumped into the mixing tank. The
level in the IGF’s is maintained at its normal operating level by
a level control loop modulating the transfer pump speed.
 The PW will be comingled with the sea water in the mixing tank
and then fed to the PW fine filter package, injection pump
suction.
 The injection pump discharge pressure is controlled by a
pressure controller & PV deriving signal from pressure
transmitter on the injection line.
 The Cost of Water Injection

 Regardless of the source, water handling and injection often is

the single biggest operating cost for producers.

 Cost of WI:
 Fluids handling cost
 Piping and Transportation cost
 Pumping cost
 Well cleanup
 Chemical cost

 Cost depends on location and objectives

 Water flooding / Pressure maintenance
 Water disposal
 Advantages of Water Injection

 Maintain the reservoir pressure

 Improved reservoir sweep

 Reduced treatment costs while comparing other secondary

recovery methods
 Conclusion

 Better management of injection water can have a large

impact on oil & gas production economics.

 Water quality / treatment facility design decisions are critical

and must be carefully made on a case by case basis.

 Injection of PW is becoming the disposal method of choice.

Questions?