Programme details

Description of the Material: Many existing reserves need increased support to get the oil out of the ground as fields reach maturity, so any new technologies that can improve traditional methods of production whilst offering increased oil recovery are eagerly sought after by industry. The paper will describe the results and achievements with a recently proven seawater treatment technology that combined with subsea water injection pumps enables a complete subsea waterflood system (including seawater treatment, pumps, subsea power distribution, monitoring and controls) for the very first time. Application: The subsea water injection and treatment concept is applicable to Subsea Production and Processing Systems. The technology is applicable for offshore oil fields at any stage of their production lifetime. Results, Observations, and Conclusions: The new subsea seawater treatment system has recently completed a successful 15 months trial on the seabed with the help of global technology funding programme from ConocoPhillips, Total, Gas de France, Shell and the Research Council of Norway. The new water treatment system provides water quality in excess of that achieved by a topsides water treatment plant in the areas important for water injection for IOR. – i.e. a lower degree of bacterial concentration, good disinfection and solids reduction. The system also include subsea high pressure pumping and monitoring technology from Aker Solutions. The presentation will describe the technology, and will report the status and findings from the water treatment full scale pilot plant and water injection pumps currently installed on the seabed. Significance of Subject Matter: The new treatment system is a pioneering new subsea waterflood process that provides a significant change in mindset in the field of offshore secondary recovery by enabling treatment and injection on the seabed for the very first time. Free from all topsides restrictions, it enables new levels of flexibility in reservoir drainage strategy and hence increased oil recovery. The new waterflood system is now ready for field applications.