Environment Report 2015

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 17 per cent (just over 31 million cubic metres) of the total produced water in 2014 was reinjected. While this is the lowest reinjection volume since 2006, it is consistent with the general trend since 2009 of reinjecting approximately one fifth of the total volume of produced water.

1

2

Figure 1: Total Produced Water Discharged to Sea and Reinjected versus Production

Produced Water Discharged

Produced Water Reinjected

Production

3

300

1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000

250

50 Produced Water (Million m 3 ) 100 150 200

4

0 200 400 600 800

5

Production (Million boe)

0

6

Source: EEMS June 2015, DECC

7

page 9