Produced Water and Associated Issues  

        

Authors: Rodney R. Reynolds, Director, PTTC’s North Midcontinent Region and Robert D. Kiker, PTTC Permian Basin Program Director

In a DOE-supported project to identify proven practices for addressing factors constraining oil production, PTTC’s South Midcontinent Region (Oklahoma and Arkansas) learned that produced water and issues associated with it were by far the most prominent constraint. Reynolds and Kiker worked together to develop this concise manual for smaller independents. The manual captures insights and preferred practices that are working. The manual addresses key questions: Do you know if you’re producing more water than you have to? If so, do you know accepted techniques for reducing water production? If you must lift a lot of water, are you satisfied that you are doing everything you can to control your operating costs?

Important topics include:

  • Well completion and its impact on water production

  • High water production during primary production

  • Water production during waterfloods

  • Unexpected increases in water production

  • Reducing lifting costs

  • Corrosion and mechanical wear on equipment used in handling produced water

PTTC envisions updating this manual in the future as results from a similar effort in California become available and as technology advances. Reader comments and suggestions for improvement, or data on other technologies for managing produced water, are welcomed. Please email comments to Lance Cole (lcole@pttc.org). Your participation and support are appreciated.

Rodney Reynolds is the Director of PTTC’s North Midcontinent Region and a petroleum engineer with the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP) at the University of Kansas. Prior to joining TORP in 1990, he owned and managed his own petroleum engineering consulting company and was employed as a senior production engineer for Gulf Oil Corp. He has numerous publications, taught petroleum engineering courses on drilling and well completions at the University of Kansas, and instructed many industry workshops related to enhanced oil recovery and reservoir management. He has presented reservoir management workshops internationally. He has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Tulsa and has over 24 years Midcontinent experience.

Robert D. (Bob) Kiker is a thirty-year veteran of Conoco, retiring in 1994 to become Executive Vice President of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. In 1998 he formed Robert D. Kiker Inc. to pursue consulting in operating and regulatory practices. In April 1999, he became the Permian Basin Director for PTTC’s Texas Region. He also serves as Executive Director of the Applied Petroleum Technology Academy (APTA), a Permian Basin-based non-profit entity established to provide field training for foreign workers. He is a Registered Professional Engineer, current Chairman of SPE’s Permian Basin Section and a past SPE distinguished lecturer (1992-1993). He graduated from Texas Tech University with a BS in Petroleum Engineering.