The analysis of scaling mechanism for water-injection pipe columns in the Daqing Oilfield

Abstract

Although water-injection in mature reservoirs is a promising low-cost method of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), in the process of development in the oilfield, scale has been produced in water-injection pipe columns. The ability to prevent and control the deposition of scale is critical to the efficient recovery of crude oil from hard environments, as part of the broader discipline of “flow assurance” in the petroleum industry. To this end laboratory-scale deposition tests have been useful to understand scale deposition mechanism. The process, mechanism and the main type of the scale in water-injection pipe columns of the fifth plant of the Daqing Oilfield were analyzed. The effect of temperature on the possibility of carbonate calcium formation on oil recovery was investigated experimentally. One of the scale samples was characterized by electron spectroscopy and the results of the element analysis were investigated. Moreover, the precautionary and control measures of scaling in oilfield pipe column systems are proposed.

Keywords

• Oilfield
• Water-injection pipe column
• Scaling
• Mechanism