Hydro has today awarded a contract to Aker Kværner Offshore Partner AS to upgrade the injection facility for produced water on the Brage platform in the North Sea. "The upgrade will give us zero emissions of produced water and up to 1.2 million barrels extra oil from Brage. This is an environmental measure with good profitability," says Brage platform manager Terje Hauge.
Hydro and the other Brage field partners have decided to invest additional funds into reducing emissions of oil-bearing produced water from the field's processing facility.
The new project includes upgrading the water injection facility on Brage, so that produced water is injected back in the reservoir starting in 2008. The project has a combined value exceeding NOK 200 million.
Re-injection of produced water will contribute to boosting pressure in the reservoir and thus increasing oil recovery by between one to 1.2 million barrels of oil until Brage is shut down.
Brage is a mature oil field that today produces some 20,000 barrels of oil daily. Hydro has carried out a number of measures to maintain profitable production on the field.
Brage has been Hydro's pilot field for introducing integrated operations and transferring a number of operational work tasks to the onshore organization.
"Investment in greater water injection is a win/win situation where we remove emissions of produced water and boost oil production by as much as a new production well," Hauge says.
The contract awarded to Aker Kværner Offshore Partner entails engineering, purchasing, fabrication, hook up and assistance with testing the Brage upgrade. The contract is valued at nearly NOK 147 million.
The project engineering, purchasing, fabrication, hook up and testing will take place starting December 2006 and continue until July 2008. The contract stems from Hydro's frame agreement for modifications work with Aker Kværner Offshore Partner.