Waterflooding is considered as the secondary oil recovery method. This method allows recovering additional oil volumes after the primary production, and as such gradually spread-out to all oil-producing regions. Water injection process is to maintain the reservoir pressure, allowing prolonging the production life in comparison to the period without the reservoir pressure maintenance regime. Global experience of applying seawater for injection into formation shows, that its treatment includes filtration, oxygen removal, microbiological processing, treatment with corrosion and scaling inhibitors.
The article covers the methods of creating the reservoir pressure maintenance system at White Tiger field until 1995, as well as technical specifications for equipment and chemicals required to perform seawater treatment and injection into formation. The performed test on determining the suspended particles and hydrocarbons in seawater within its sampling area proved that the seawater in such area has little to no suspended particles and oil-products, and can be applied without additional treatment. The first experience of injecting seawater at White Tiger field showed that electric submersible pumps (ESP) possess the best efficiency and produceability. However, the applied typical sizes of those pumps in no corrosion-resistant version did not provide for the designed parameters of injection and running time. The pilot water injection at White Tiger field confirmed the absence of water inflow in the neighbouring wells and reduction of pressure drop around the injection well.
References
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