--> Abstract: Assessment of Slurry Injection in Burgan Oil Field, Southern Kuwait, by Nadia K. Al-Zabout; #90078 (2008)

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Assessment of Slurry Injection in Burgan Oil Field, Southern Kuwait

Nadia K. Al-Zabout
Exploration Group, Kuwait Oil Company, Ahmadi, Kuwait

Deep slurry injection is used by the petroleum industry to permanently dispose of non-hazardous oil field solid waste (Veil and Dusseault, 2003). The process consists of mixing solid with water and/or other waste liquids to form a slurry for disposal in bore-holes. The slurry is pressurized to fracture the target repository in order to accommodate the waste materials.

Liquefied waste is injected into a reservoir where storage is permanently isolated from the biosphere. Selection of a suitable reservoir depends on the reservoir characteristics of the repository: permeability, porosity, depth and reservoir volume. A prospective injection site requires certain quantitative or qualitative value for every parameter involved in a selection criterion.

In this study the Barremian-Lower Aptian Zubair Formation is selected as a potential zone for deep slurry injection. Pilot area is in the vicinity of the Burgan Field in southern Kuwait. In cooperation with Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), wells and cores will be investigated to study parameters related to Deep Slurry Injection.

The Zubair Formation is a major siliciclastic wedge, which ranges in thickness from 1400 ft in the north to 1180ft in southern Kuwait.

A geological assessment model will comprise two components: a decision tree and a numerical calculation system. The tree addresses the suitability of a site. Parameters are critical, but of unspecified quality. The numerical calculation gives a score to a potential injection site based on the rank numbers and weighting factors for the various parameters. The score for a particular site will show its suitability for injection, and allows a direct comparison with other available sites. The geological assessment model will be evaluated using well data for several sites in Kuwait.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas