CHARACTERIZATIONS AND CLASSIFICATION OF FORMATION WATER PRODUCED IN OILFIELDS

Abstract

Formation water known as oilfield wastewater, produced water, associated water and brine; which generated in great volumes in onshore and offshore oil and gas production. As more and more world major oilfields mature, more water begins to be produced from oil producers because of aquifer encroachment and/or water injection. The evaluated characteristics of offshore oilfield produced water in oilfields is very important for petroleum engineering industry from both upstream and downstream activities, as well as is essential for both environmental assessment and reservoir management. This study has been conducted on two oilfields namely Sarir and Nafora for oil producing wells to distinguish the characterizations of the produced water. Also, the water characteristics are investigated in five gathering centers in Sarir oilfield. The study included the analysis of sixty water samples to determine the physiochemical characterizations. The data obtained from the chemical analysis were used to classify formation water and to determine the environmental deposition using Sulin's system. The results revealed that the type of formation water in both two fields are belonging to CaCl2 type and deep marine environment. The Stiff diagrams of the studied formation water of Sarir field were constructed for five gathering centers and compared with different patterns of Stiff diagrams. Most of the studied water exhibits a similarity of these patterns, but some of them show slightly deviation, this may be attributed to the type of formation and the source of brine.