Importance of Water Chemistry in Oil and Gas Operations—Properties and Composition

Abstract

In the oil and gas industry, water is essential element since it exists in most of the stages, starting from drilling operations, then production processes including injecting in the reservoir to maintain the pressure, and finally disposing the produced water from the reservoir. Therefore, it is very important to understand the water in the petroleum industry with its different types and study its effects on the reservoirs as well as the downhole and surface equipment. Most of the studies and literature reviews focused on the oil and gas properties. In fact, understanding the properties of the water is as important as the oil and gas properties. Water is always present in the oil and gas fields during production, injection or disposal. Therefore, it has a direct impact on the productivity and overall efficiency of the field and the entire development project. This paper is going to illustrate and focus on several objectives. First, it elaborates the importance of the water in the oil and gas fields. Then, it includes a comprehensive overview of different types of water in the petroleum industry including a summary about of their properties. The main two types that the paper focuses on are the produced water and the injected water. It clarifies the effects of both of them on the reservoir, well completions and facilities. After that, the paper touches bases on the common problems and issues caused by water along with a brief summary of steps needed by the operators to follow in order to solve them. In addition to that, the common monitoring procedures and tests that are usually followed to observe the quality of the water are going to be presented. Finally, couples of solutions used by operators are reviewed to solve the problem of excessive water production after the water breakthrough in the field.

Application Analysis of Flow-Deflecting Technology Based on a Biopolymer System

“…To improve the effect of the adopted development technology, it is necessary to change the volume of the acting agent injected into the pore -crack system [4][5][6]. The sedimentological features of the formation create surfaces with different shapes and directions inside it, which can reflect the fluid flow and create areal permeability anisotropy [7].…”

Water Chemistry in Oil and Gas Operations: Scales Properties and Composition

“…Water in the oil and gas industry is considered as one of the most important drives for hydrocarbons production. Water aids in managing the reservoir, mobilizing the hydrocarbons and displacing them within the homogenous rocks [1]. This kind of water production is known as necessary or good water production.…”

Effect of Thermodynamic Parameters on the Concentration of Pollutants in Produced Water from Crude Oil Production

“…There is also possibility of some additional water from other formations adjacent to the hydrocarbon-bearing layers to become part of the produced water that comes to the surface [2]. Produced water is therefore a mixture of injected water, formation water, production chemicals, and hydrocarbons [3,4,5,6]. The composition of produced water depends on the chemistry of the rocks or the geologic formation, lifetime of the reservoir, and the type of hydrocarbon produced [4].…”