Technology Demonstration and Verification for Removal of Sulphate and Salts: SWIT-SUL/SAL from Seawater at the Seabed

This "Forprosjekt" is to pave the way for a larger DEMO2000 project in April - described below: The ability to inject low salinity water into reservoirs has in some cases shown to significantly increase the recovery factor of the oil in place in a reservo ir. The removal of sulphate ions from injected water is sometimes required to prevent scaling and reduce the possibility of reservoir souring. Both Salinity and Sulphate reduction processes require the use of spiral wound type membranes that have proven e xpensive and difficult to accommodate and operate on an offshore topsides facility. Seabox has just recently completed a JIP in Oslofjord where it was demonstrated that it is technically feasible to treat seawater on the seabed by use of the SWIT treatm ent system and then feed this water to a micro filtration plant for removal of all particles before further processing by membranes for sulphate and salt removal. The results from this JIP very clearly indicate that the combination of SWIT and subsea micr ofiltration and membranes have the potential to become a technical breakthrough related to a robust, reliable and cost effective way of producing particle free seawater, low salinity and/or sulphate free water for use in offshore oil production operations . Minimizing risk whilst actually being able to carry out realistically testing is key points for developing a strategy for further work. The overall objective of this JIP is therefore to mature the technology to a level where all identified technology ga ps are closed by testing and/or technical evaluations and documentation. All necessary engineering data shall be gathered and made available for the future detail design, construction and installation of a full-scale SWIT unit with microfiltration module and NF/RO-membranes for production of 20,000 bpd of low sulphate and/or low salinity water at the seabed for a real application.