Secondary And Tertiary Recovery With Sea Water And Produced Water In The Huntington Beach Field
Authors: Wheeler Douglas W. , Weinbrandt Richard M. 
Published: December 2007

Aminoil USA has been waterflooding the Huntington Beach Field since 1959. During this time three zones have been waterflooded: the Upper Jones, the Lower Jones, and the Lower Main. The Upper and Lower Jones have been flooded using only sea water, while the Lower Main Tone flood was initiated with sea water and then converted to produced water.

This paper discusses the problems which have been encountered in the waterflood projects due to the use of sea water and produced water. Specifically, these problems have included biological sulfate reduction, corrosion, scaling, and injectivity impairment. Also presented are the chemical and mechanical approaches to solve these problems. problems. In 1973, changes in the ocean discharge requirements resulted in conversion of the Lower Main Zone waterflood from sea water to produced water. Several problems were experienced which led to injectivity impairment caused by the high hydrogen sulfide and oil concentration of the produced water. produced water. In May 1978 Aminoil USA initiated a pilot test of an alkaline flooding process in the Lower Main Zone using 11,000 barrels per day of a blended produced water which has been softened. The problems associated with removing the calcium and magnesium from the high total dissolved solids produced water with carboxylic cation exchange produced water with carboxylic cation exchange resin will be discussed.

Introduction

The Huntington Beach Field is a major producing field lying on the California coastline producing field lying on the California coastline approximately 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Figure I shows the location of the Huntington Beach Field in the Los Angeles Basin with the offshore area of the field cross-hatched.

The field has a length of seven miles along the Newport-Inglewood Fault zone and a maximum width of three miles. Production from the offshore area is from five major zones with the upper zone production stimulated by steam injection while three of the lower zones are under waterflood. One of the zones has not yet been waterflooded and is producing by primary. Two of the zones, the Upper Jones and the Lower Jones, are currently being waterflooded with sea water, while the third zone, the Lower Main, is being flooded with produced water; although initially the Lower Main produced water; although initially the Lower Main Zone was flooded with sea water. The Huntington Beach Field ranks as the third largest waterflood in the United States with a current water injection rate of 450,000 barrels per day.

Waterflooding has been conducted in the Huntington Beach Field since 1959. During this time a number of problems have been experienced which relate primarily to water treatment and water handling. This paper will discuss those problems and their relation to sea water flooding, problems and their relation to sea water flooding, produced water flooding, and the utilization of produced water flooding, and the utilization of produced water for an alkaline flooding project. produced water for an alkaline flooding project.

SEA WATER FLOODS

In 1959 waterflooding was initiated in the Lower Jones Zone, and in 1968 expanded to include the Upper Jones. Because of the proximity of the field to the ocean, sea water was used as the primary water source for the waterfloods. Rather primary water source for the waterfloods. Rather than pumping water directly out of the ocean, wells drilled to a gravel bed approximately 30 feet thick and lying approximately 60 feet below the surface were found to be an adequate source of sea water. The water produced from these wells was essentially filtered sea water without the suspended solids and plankton which would be expected in water taken directly from the ocean.