Technology developers are being urged to come forward with solutions to tackle the challenges of managing produced water in Middle East oil and gas production. ITF, the global technology facilitator, has issued a call for proposals with up to 100% funding available for successful submissions.
As the Gulf region suffers from water shortage problems, it is crucial that oil companies dispose of secondary water from production safely, ensuring water supplies do not become contaminated.
The particular challenges in this area, as identified by ITF's members are; treating produced water with back produced polymer in polymer flood projects, as well as the treatment of water for re-injection and other applications.
ITF opened an office in Abu Dhabi in 2011 and this challenge is the first to emerge from the regional managers group which ITF established with its Middle East members this year. The initial meeting brought together 30 of the region's largest oil and gas players to focus on a collaborative vision to solving regional technology challenges, and identified produced water management as a priority area to tackle.
Ryan McPherson, ITF's regional director in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, said: "Our Middle East membership pushed for this challenge to be addressed first because it is so important to oil and gas production. Technology needs to become more effective in order to meet the legal requirements of the Ministry for Environment standards and the Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME).
"There is a clear need for new technologies to provide a definitive solution to the problem and we hope to bring innovative technologies to market by acting as the honest broker between our operator and service company members and technology developers. We are working hard to build close links with technology organisations and academic institutions to encourage them to come forward with bespoke proposals for new technologies."
The deadline for proposals is 18th June 2012 and ITF's members will be looking to select projects to fund by September 2012. Technology companies and academic organisations can find out more by calling ITF's headquarters in Aberdeen on +44(0)1224 222410 or visiting www.itfenergy.com.
A not-for-profit organisation, ITF has 29 global oil and gas operator and service company members. ITF is the only global funding programme operating across continents. The organisation has facilitated the launch of more than 180 joint industry projects (JIPs) from early stage projects through to field trials and commercialisation and aims to secure a further £50 million for technologies by 2015.
There are a number of criteria for technology developers to consider which can be found on the ITF website. The main challenges for the treatment of produced water with back produced polymer in polymer flood projects are:
Technologies are required that have a wide range to deal with viscosity of up to 60cP that can achieve oil in water (OIW) specification, without degradation of polymer if possible
Technologies need to be cost efficient as well
It is important to note that the expected water quality at inlet is OIW 200ppmv, 20mg/l (Total Suspended Solids) TSS and outlet of 5ppmv OIW and 2mg/l TSS.
The development of produced water treatment equipment to handle high viscosity water that achieves Oil in Water (OIW) specifications required: viscosity range should be up to 60cP as higher limit and base case is up to 10cP
Improved techniques for the detection and characterisation of back produced polymer in produced water
Improved technologies for the desalination of water with back produced polymer
Improved solutions for the degradation of back produced polymer without shearing the oil in water
The challenges in the treatment of produced water for re-injection and other applications are:
The development of a coalescence technology to adequately treat produced water so it can be re-injected or disposed off safely to comply with local legislation. The ROPME Protocol for overboard discharge standard is 15 mg/l and the Ministry for Environment standard for disposal into the sea is 40ppmv. It is critical to reduce salinity and develop cost effective techniques for coalescing technologies without changing cartridges frequently with a target oil in water concentration of less than 2ppm
Bearing in mind that the timescale for delivery of this technology is within 3 years and it is envisioned that technologies submitted to address this challenge should be able to treat 100,000 bpd of produced water
Alternative technologies for the treatment of produced water to comply with ROPME and the Ministry of Environment standards
Proposed technologies should be suitable for a range of water cut in the region of 30 - 90%.
The development of techniques to ensure water content in the crude oil after separation is minimal (say less than 1%)
·The development of a system that does not utilise a compressor or a pump to separate gas from liquids (gas, crude and water mixture) with the gas and crude oil returned to the flow line. This system should be automated and reliable so that it can be use in unmanned and remote locations
Produced water with low salinity <8000 mg/l is a candidate for treatment and potential reuse. The main challenges are;
Treatment to achieve reuse water specifications such as irrigation, industrial use, steam generation and polymer mixing in a cost effective way. The requirement is to achieve de-oiling to <5ppm, salinity, Silica, water hardness, Boron, TSS and other chemicals to achieve the required specification
Produced/treated water transportation in a cost effective way, utilising alternatives to carbon steel lined pipelines
Cost effective treatment of high salinity produced water (salinity >50,000 mg/l) for reuse in steam generation, taking into account the following;
There are limitations with current technology as in some cases maximum salinity can be >120,000mg/l. Therefore solutions need to be able to address these extreme cases
A lot of technologies have very high power requirements so solutions are sought with minimal power requirements, able to tolerate oil in water and should be cost effective
ITF Members:
Aramco Services Company
BG Group
BP
Chevron
ConocoPhillips
DONG Energy
EnQuest
ExxonMobil
GE Oil & Gas
KOC
Maersk Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation
Nexen
Petrofac
Petroleum Development Oman
PETRONAS
Premier Oil
PTTEP
Schlumberger
Shell
Siemens
Statoil
Technip
TOTAL
Tullow Oil
Weatherford
Wintershall
Wood Group
Woodside
News release issued on behalf of ITF by the BIG Partnership. For further information, contact senior account executive Vicky Florence on: (01224) 615008 or email vicky.florence@bigpartnership.co.uk
© Press Release 2012
