100’s of Barrels of water to one barrel of oil6 Dec 2021 18:55
In 2020, the planet's oil wells will produce nearly 12.7 billion gallons a day of, surprisingly, water. The water is reused to meet technical requirements at installations, sidestepping the need both to tap the natural water supply and discharge the water produced into the environment. Known as reinjection, this is already common practice. Its future growth, especially in offshore fields, is part of the environmental engagement of oil companies, which are also experiencing mounting regulatory pressures. Most important, it's a daunting technical challenge, forcing operators to grapple with production requirements that differ in each case.No oil without waterYou can't produce oil without water, because water is present naturally in both onshore and offshore oil reservoirs. This naturally occurring water is called formation water. Minimal when a field first comes on stream, it can make up more than 90 percent of the fluids extracted after wells have been in service for 20 or so years.Used as a drilling or production fluid, water is also vital to managing an oil field sustainably. It is injected into fields via special wells, called injection wells. The injected water offsets declining pressure in the reservoir as oil is produced over time. Lastly, water enhances oil recovery by "flushing" the reservoir. For a long time, injection water was drawn from the natural environment, including oceans, rivers, lakes and estuaries. But it's the water produced along with the oil or gas that is increasingly used today. Water from the biggest Floating Production Storage and Offloading units — FPSOs — can, for example, reach 400,000 barrels — nearly 17 million gallons — a day, an amount that would fill 21 Olympic-size swimming pools.
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