Integrated field development for effective scale control throughout the water cycle in deep water subsea fields

Scale control in produced fluids as water follows the cycle of injection, production, processing and reinjection in oil production facilities is, in many cases, critical to the effective production of hydrocarbons in a safe, economic and environmentally acceptable manner.

This paper focuses on the challenges to scale control in deepwater reservoirs, and describes the scale control measures that are designed into the field development plan based on the integration of reservoir simulation, completion design technology and production chemistry. Emphasis is placed on the need to consider the full life cycle of the field, considering a range of development scenarios, such as water flooding with seawater, desulphated seawater, produced water re-injection, aquifer water injection and primary depletion.

Advanced fluid flow and reaction calculations that account for in situ scaling reactions and the impact on the produced brine chemistry are used to provide data to refine the economic models used to identify the optimum scale management technologies. The various functions that must be carried out for effective scale management at the CAPEX and OPEX phase are outlined.

The paper clearly demonstrates how, by using an integrated team that includes personnel drawn from operating company, chemical service company and research institute backgrounds, a multi-disciplinary approach may be used to integrate engineering and chemical solutions to effectively arrive at the most economic scale control programme for these challenging fields.