Feasibility Study of Produced Water Re-Injection in Sirri Oil Field in Iran

The current drive within the Persian Gulf to reduce the environmental burden of chemicals and oil discharge to the environment has focused attention on challenge of produced water re-injection and has introduced new challenges for compatibility of sea, produced and formation waters. This paper investigates the feasibility of produced water re-injection and water managment in an Iranian offshore oil field named Siri. Sirri oil field located in south Iran’s border producing from a common formation between Iran and United Arab Emirates, which is under seawater injection since 1983. Recently, produced water re-injection has been considering in order to abolish environmental threat and improve the oil recovery. The major active damaging mechanisms during waterflooding could be Solid invasion, Mineral scale deposition and Corrosion. In this study, the first two mechanisms have been investigated. Several atmospheric and core flood tests, were performed to investigate the mentioned damages and the results were compared with the field outcomes. A special core holder has been designed and constructed by the research group for the better results. According to the achievements, appropriate ratio of produced water to the seawater, the right filter size and suitable chemical treatment are proposed to avoid such damages in Siri.