Application of Downhole Oil-Water Separation: A Feasibility Study

An engineering feasibility study has been conducted on the major operated oil field of waha oil company to determine the feasibility of applying downhole oil/water separation technology (DHOWS) and to rank candidate wells within this field on the basis of their suitability for a DHOWS installations. Under operations consistent with the existing field development (or any future developments), the nature of the GE reservoir is such that, the remaining oil reserves will have to be produced at high and constantly increasing watercuts. Downhole separation and disposal of produced water represents a material opportunity to improve the current and future operations of the field. A screening template was developed to review the reservoir and well characteristics in more details and to identify a list of candidate wells for the possible implementation of DHOWS technology. Several operational risk and concerns exists in respect of the candidate wells were identified. Eighteen wells our of twenty four wells demonstrated favourable reservoir and well characteristics and meet the initial DHOWS screening criteria. The screening template may be used to evaluate other fields for potential conventional DHOWS applications. A preliminary design of a DHOWS application for three wells is presented in this paper.