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Water is a precious natural resource that is used prolifically by the industry for a wide range of purposes, such as drilling, reservoir injection, cementing and hydraulic fracturing.
Improve natural resource management
Water is a precious natural resource that is used prolifically by the industry for a wide range of purposes, such as drilling, reservoir injection, cementing and hydraulic fracturing. Water can come from recycled sources, but in some areas it is sourced from natural aquifers or the oceans, and this can cause an ecological imbalance. It’s important that water is used sparingly and efficiently.
Apart from the large amounts of water used for injection, hydraulic fracturing and chemical also needs huge amounts of water to be effective. TGT has developed two specific answer products in our True Flow range that help operators assess the effectiveness of fracturing and stimulation operations—Fracture Flow and Stimulate Flow. These surveys can be deployed pre- and post-operations to help optimise fracturing and stimulation programmes, and potentially reduce associated water usage.
A typical hydraulic
fracturing job uses
5-10 million gallons
of water per well.
Improve injection performance
Most oil reservoirs will inevitably require additional pressure support to maintain production and improve oil recovery. Water injection is used widely for this purpose and many oilfields are injected with tens to hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. Pumping water is energy intensive and the resulting CO2 emissions can range from 1-2 kgCO2 per barrel. In fact, water injection is responsible for ~40% of total CO2 emissions for a typical oilfield.
Making matters worse, well completion and formation integrity issues can lead to water being diverted away from the target reservoir. This can result in abnormally high injection rates, reduced field production performance, and high water cut in producer wells. TGT’s True Flow products are being used globally by operators to ensure that all injected water is reaching the target and revealing where it is not. In many cases, these diagnostics lead to a significant reduction in water volumes and CO2 emissions, and increased field production.
Pumping 10,000 barrels
of water per day
produces 5.4 ktCO2
annually.
Reduce water production
High water cut is a persistent industry challenge responsible for unnecessarily high CO2 emissions and higher carbon per barrel. Excess water needs to be managed at surface, treated then reinjected or disposed of, and this requires energy. Also, excess water often means less oil, reduced recovery and longer production times, increasing emissions even further. And complicating the issue, produced water may be channeling from several elusive sources hidden behind the casing.
In many cases, excess water cut can be minimised or cured. If the operator can identify the true source of water downhole, measures can be taken to shut-off the water and restore oil production to lower carbon and economic levels. TGT’s True Flow products are used widely for this purpose. Unlike conventional diagnostics that can only detect water entering the wellbore, TGT’s through-barrier diagnostics can reveal the true source behind casing, enabling effective remediation, improved recovery rates and reduced carbon emissions.
High water-cut leads
to higher CO2
barrel and lower oil
production rates
