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Since 2000, the volume of produced water discharged to sea decreased by 37 per cent, from 263 million cubic
metres to 165 million cubic metres.
Reinjection of produced water into suitable subsurface strata or the reservoir itself, where technically feasible,
is an alternative to discharge to sea. Reinjection of produced water has been carried out on the UKCS since 2001
and about 18 per cent (almost 37 million cubic metres) of the total produced water in 2015 was reinjected. This is
an increase on 2014, but is consistent with the general trend since 2009 with approximately one fifth of the total
volume of produced water being reinjected.
Figure 1: Total Produced Water Discharged to Sea and Reinjected versus Production
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Production (Million boe)
Produced Water (Million m
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)
Source: EEMS July 2016, BEIS
Produced Water Discharged
Produced Water Reinjected
Production
International Comparison
The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) reports that globally 0.6 tonnes of produced water were
discharged and 1.2 tonnes were reinjected per tonne of hydrocarbon produced (both onshore and offshore) by IOGP
member companies in 2014
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. Ninety-two per cent of the reported produced water came from offshore operations.
Comparatively, in 2014, the UKCS discharged 2.1 tonnes and reinjected 0.4 tonnes of produced water per tonne
of hydrocarbon produced. In 2015, these values decreased slightly to 2 tonnes and 0.4 tonnes, respectively. This
highlights the UKCS’ maturity and its technically challenging environment compared with many other basins
around the world. It is therefore to be expected that more produced water is generated in the UK than on
average globally.
Norwegian data show similar trends to the UK with a general increase in the ratio of produced water to hydrocarbon
production. Both countries face similar technical challenges with production in the North Sea. In 2015, the UKCS
generated 2.4 tonnes of produced water per tonne of hydrocarbon. In Norway, this figure is about 2.3 tonnes and,
similar to the UK, 20 per cent of the total produced water is, on average, reinjected into the subsurface.
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2015 data are not available at the time of publishing.
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