Water treatment technology costs associated with offshore oil and gas production

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:7190979

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is collecting cost data related to its proposed waste water cleanliness regulations. The Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Dallas Field Office (DFO) agreed to help gather the data. The proposed EPA regulations will limit the oil and grease content of discharged water produced from oil and gas reservoirs. The current oil and grease content limit is 48 parts per million (p/m) and the proposed limit is 15 p/m. These regulations affect oil and gas well operators working in Federally-controlled waters off the coastlines of the United States. These coastlines include those of Alaska and California, but the bulk of the data comes from the Gulf of Mexico area. The focus of this report is on processes now available which are useful in reducing the volume of oil and grease in treated waste water. This water comes from oil and gas reservoirs, passing from wells into a surface process facility. The processes investigated include multimedia filtration, hydrocyclones, reinjection of produced water, pumping waste water to shore via pipelines and, as an adjunct, erection of platforms for the sole purpose of water treatment. This report presents the estimated cost of compliance with proposed EPA regulations by use of currently existing auxiliary processes. The desired reduction of oil residue in produced water may result from the addition of a single process or several processes. The order of the processes described in this report is significant. The most common type of treatment is the multimedia filter. The hydrocyclone, still proving itself to many operators, is gaining rapidly in popularity. The remaining options, which include reinjection of the water, pumping the water to shore installations, or erecting entirely new platforms for water treatment, are costlier and thus are less likely solutions.

• Research Organization: USDOE Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Oil and Gas
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7190979
• Report Number(s): SR/RNGD-92-01; ON: DE93002217
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
NATURAL GAS WELLS
WASTE WATER
OIL WELLS
WATER TREATMENT
COST
CAPITALIZED COST
CYCLONE SEPARATORS
FILTRATION
FINANCIAL DATA
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
OPERATING COST
PIPELINES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
CONCENTRATORS
DATA
EQUIPMENT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INERTIAL SEPARATORS
INFORMATION
LIQUID WASTES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
SEPARATION EQUIPMENT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTES
WATER
WELLS
020800* - Petroleum- Waste Management
020300 - Petroleum- Drilling & Production