Subsurface injection of reject stream

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016177697-A1
Application number	US-201514977138-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 21, 2015
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Recovering oil from a subterranean formation is disclosed, comprising processing a source water to produce a processed water stream and a reject water stream; injecting a first fluid into an injection well toward a first downhole exhaust, wherein the first fluid comprises the processed water stream; and injecting a second fluid into the injection well toward a second downhole exhaust, wherein the second fluid comprises the reject water stream or a produced water stream, wherein the first fluid is separated from the second fluid within the injection well; and producing oil via a production well.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for recovering oil from a subterranean formation, comprising:
processing a source water to produce a processed water stream and a reject water stream; injecting a first fluid into an injection well toward a first downhole exhaust, wherein the first fluid comprises the processed water stream; and injecting a second fluid into the injection well toward a second downhole exhaust, wherein the second fluid comprises the reject water stream, wherein the first fluid is separated from the second fluid within the injection well; and producing oil from the formation via a production well.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising injecting a third fluid into the injection well toward a third outlet point, wherein the third fluid is separated from the first fluid and second fluid within the injection well.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the second fluid comprises a reject water stream.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second fluid comprises a produced water stream.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid comprises an oil recovery fluid.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid comprises an enhanced oil recovery fluid.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid and the second fluid are injected into the same formation layer.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid is injected into a first formation layer and the second fluid is injected into a second formation layer.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second formation layer is below the first formation layer.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the source water comprises a seawater, aquifer, fresh water, brine, ocean water, surface water, river water, pond water, produced water, treated produced water, or municipal water.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the source water produces substantially equal amounts of the processed water stream and the reject water stream.

12 . A system for recovering oil from a subterranean formation, comprising:
an injection well extending into at least one formation layer; a spacer disposed within the injection well and separating a first injection zone disposed within the injection well and a second injection zone disposed within the injection well; a first conduit disposed within the injection well and a second conduit disposed within the injection well, wherein the first conduit comprises a first fluid exhaust in fluid communication with the first injection zone and wherein the second conduit comprises a second fluid exhaust in fluid communication with the second injection zone; a filtration device structured and arranged to direct a processed water toward the first conduit and direct a reject water toward the second conduit; and a production well in fluid communication with the at least one formation layer.

13 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising a produced water conduit structured and arranged to direct produced water toward the first conduit or the second conduit.

14 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising a third conduit disposed within the injection well comprising a third fluid exhaust in fluid communication with a third injection zone, wherein the third injection zone is downhole of the second injection zone.

15 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising a second spacer disposed within the injection well separating the second injection zone from a third injection zone.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the second injection zone is downhole from the first injection zone.

Assignees

• Shell Oil Co

Inventors

• Looijer Mark Theodoor
• Van Eijden Gerbrand Jozef Maria
• Suijkerbuijk Bartholomeus Marinus Josephus Maria

Classifications

• E21B43/20 Primary

  Displacing by water · CPC title

• E21B43/40 Primary

  Separation associated with re-injection of separated materials {(E21B43/385 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E21B33/124

  Units with longitudinally-spaced plugs for isolating the intermediate space · CPC title