Smart water to sprinkle the desert

Following the recipe of success from Norwegian oil fields, seawater will be injected into the Saudi Arabian desert sands.

Water injection has succeeded in improving the recovery rate from the Ekofisk field from the originally expected 17 percent to nearly 50 percent today.

This success makes Professor Tor Austad at the University of Stavanger a popular man. He has spent decades researching improved oil recovery from chalk fields by injecting seawater into the reservoirs.

Austad’s group of scientists at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, is currently working on a prestigious project for the world’s biggest oil company, Saudi Aramco.

“Of course this is a feather in our cap,” Austad says.

“Smart water”

Half of the world’s oil reserves are trapped in reservoirs composed of calcium carbonate or limestone. Saudi Aramco has tried to boost the recovery rate by conducting research on seawater injection in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia. During laboratory tests, the company has achieved sensational results by injecting non-chemical water, or “smart water”, as Austad calls it.

“In able to change its water injection strategy, the company now wants a more thorough scientific explanation to this phenomenon,” says Austad, who collaborates with post doctor Skule Strand in this task.

Gigantic oil fields

“Saudi Arabia may have bigger oil resources than the rest of the world’s combined. The country possesses gigantic reservoirs, and a 10 percent increase in recovery rate will have enormous economic consequences,” Austad asserts.

The Department of Petroleum Engineering is collaborating on increased oil recovery from carbonate fields with BP, as well as Maersk, in the Middle East.

Provided by University of Stavanger