Subsurface brine injection: Proactive approach to close the produced water loop in the western desert of Egypt
In 1988 a major onshore production facility was producing oil from eight formations in six oil fields located in the western desert of Egypt. Two of these formations include active water drive reservoirs, in addition; three reservoirs at that date were receiving water injection to enhance oil recovery. To handle the increasing volumes of the produced water (which is contaminated with oil, production chemicals and other pollutants), three alternatives were investigated: (1) Injection into disposal wells. (2) Dumping in surface disposal pits. (3) Re-injection to waterflood some oil reservoirs. The investigation revealed that the first two options are technically unfavorable, also they are conventional Waste Management Technologies (WMT) which provide short-term remedial solution. In contrast, Produced Water Re-Injection (PWRI) is an Environmental Control Technology (ECT) which minimize the environmental impact through process improvements. A state -of-the-art re-injection process was utilized using chemical treatment, gas liberation, settling, filtration and injection. This process represents a combination of two (ECT) methods: Reuse (for water flooding) and Recycling (when brine is redisposed underground). This process reduce the overall volumes of produced water to be disposed, increase the oil reserves, reservoir pressure and oil production and converse the underground water reserve.
- OSTI ID:
- 391168
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960623-; TRN: 96:004554-0088
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International conference on health, safety and environment in oil and gas exploration products, New Orleans, LA (United States), 9 Jun - 12 Sep 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of The third international conference on health, safety & environment in oil and gas exploration and production. Proceedings - Volume 1; PB: 941 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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