Experimental investigation and CaCO3 scale deposition during oil recovery.

The international oil&gas industry on the Norwegian continental shelf is facing higher water production as fields mature. Many oil fields in operation today have major scale problems, and new insight and know-how in this area are important. Halten/Nordla nd is one of the major gas producing fields on the Norwegian shelf. In this area scale problems will occur due to the high temperature and salinity, and multi zone completion. Rig operated interventions during scale cleanup in subsea completed wells are e xpensive (each intervention = 100 mill NOK). The demand for better scale control for subsea wells is therefore pressing. This project focuses directly on this challenge, also being identified by the OG21 board as one of the major challenges on the NCS i n the years to come. A cross disciplinary R&D scale group is created within the SINTEF/NTNU/IFE environment in cooperation with two Greek research institutes; FORTH and DEMOKRITOS. The intention of the consortium is to establish a proper model for the Ca CO3 scale buildup process in the near wellbore area and its impact on productivity. Our strategy is to build knowledge from laboratory and field data, and develop realistic computer models describing the scaling process in the near wellbore region.