Compact In-Line Bulk Water Removal Technologies - A Solution to the High Water Cut Challenges

Abstract

The natural depletion of reservoirs with increased water-cut and aging facilities has forced the oil and gas industry to improve methods and technologies for the ultimate hydrocarbon recovery. A compact patented in-line cyclonic separator, called the Wx, has been developed as a solution. The unit is a single passive device used to separate bulk-water from a water continuous (oil-water) mixture. It is capable of recovering up to 60% of inlet total water production at a quality of 1000 ppm or less. Wx technology has been extensively tested in the UK and has also been successfully deployed onshore and offshore in Norway. This paper discusses how Wx oil/water compact separator can be used with existing technologies to address the issues of ‘High Water cuts’, in order to recover maximum hydrocarbons. It also discusses the performance of the Wx unit in terms of pressure drops, flow turn-down/turn-up, sensitivity to inlet water cut, tolerance to gas, separation quality including operation, control, capacity, applications and some of its key features.

A method to calculate reasonable water injection rate for M oilfield

“…Therefore, there are a series of problems in extra high water cut stage including sharp production decline and rapid water cut rising (Hou 2014;Chen 1986;Rehman et al 2015). There will be remaining oil enrichment in unswept region if fluid advantage channels are created, which could affect the final recovery.…”