Managing Chemical Flooding, and By-Products with Produced Water Re-Injection (PWRI) System in Offshore Environment

Abstract

AbstractAngsi field is slated to be the first in the world for Alkaline-Surfactant and Polymer (ASP) chemical flooding via a floating structure in an offshore environment. The chemical flooding will be for 3 years with 6 months of low salinity water pre-flush injection prior to chemical injection to condition the reservoir, and 6 months of treated seawater with polymer injection as post-flush activity. The chemical flooding will be conducted via injection of treated and partially desalinated seawater mixed with ASP chemicals produced from the floater which is tie-in to the existing Angsi water injection pipeline network (Figure 1.0). Angsi reservoirs will experience three (3) different salinity range exposures with two (2) as invading fluids with effects of chemical cocktail, wettability and fluid distribution. One of the main challenges for ASP flooding in an offshore environment is handling the chemical residuals breakthrough in produced water causing the water unable to be disposed overboard. To overcome this problem and to eliminate environmental pollution,  a full scale Produced Water Re-Injection (PWRI) system with full integration to existing Angsi Produced Water Treatment (PWT) system should be adopted to meet the new water reinjection specifications. Since the PWRI water will be commingled with treated and partially desalinated seawater mixed with ASP chemicals from the floater, it is paramount to predict the range of salinity of the produced water over time to help to design the PWRI and Floater's water treatment system to achieve the final water quality and optimum salinity required for an effective ASP cocktail for re-injection. This paper will summarise the PWRI design and operation philosophy coupled with subsurface studies to predict salinity profiles for the produced water.