Co-produced water re-injection is one of the most important techniques which contribute the oil recovery. Meanwhile it is a surface and subsurface challenging process. In some oil fields, the current capacity of water injection is well over thousands barrels per day. The typical incompatibility between oil field formation water and injection water causes unusual severe damage problems in the forms of inorganic scales and deposition of particles. An innovative technology based on the concepts of direct forward osmosis is developed for the selective removal of scale ions and suspension particles from water before injection. The advantages of this technology include the: use of a small amount of energy and additive; (2) generation of minimal waste with suitable disposal paths; (3) extraction of economic values from discarded streams or species; and (4) rapid economic deployment. The generated scale ion-free water from this technology can be injected safely in oil fields for flooding and pressure support. Low salinity water injection (LowSal WI) is a promising EOR technique approved experimentally via the manipulation of physiochemical properties of the water injection considering the reservoir petro-physical characteristics. This paper presents a review of technologies related to co-produced water re-injection, the management and associated subsurface issues; mainly specific colonies of scale formations and describing the types of such scale sources. The scaling formation/tendency was simulated using SchaleChem software (from OLI-3). The results revealed a significant reduction in the scaling formation with LowSal WI comparing to the conventional dehydrated/co-produced injection water.

Co-produced water re-injection is one of the most important techniques which contribute the oil recovery. Meanwhile it is a surface and subsurface challenging process. In some oil fields, the current capacity of water injection is well over thousands barrels per day. The typical incompatibility ...