Impact of brine flow and mixing in the reservoir on scale control risk assessment and subsurface treatment options: Case histories

As offshore production environments become ever more complex, particularly in deep-water regions, the risks associated with formation damage due to precipitation of inorganic scales may increase to the point that production by conventional waterflooding may cease to be viable. The ability to predict and control such formation damage can thus become critical to project success under such circumstances. The work described in this paper presents how the risk may be managed from early in the CAPEX phase of projects through to the OPEX phase by use of reservoir simulation tools to better understand the scaling potential in a reservoir and the possibilities for effective scale control. This process is illustrated by reference to a number of field examples where specific scaling problems have been identified, and the ability to implement effective scale management has been impacted by detailed fluid flow and brine-mixing calculations. Copyright © 2005 by ASME.