Abstract
The BP operated Miller field poses a unique chemical challenge as it has, arguably the harshest oilfield scaling regime in the North Sea, if not the world. Some 3 million litres of chemical are consumed each year and the management, supply, use and performance of every aliquot of chemical is imperative to see Miller through to its planned cessation of production (COP) in December 2006.
The Miller field is a mature North Sea asset and produces a potential of 80,000 bbl of water with its 16,000 bbl of oil every day. The unique challenge posed by Miller is that the produced water contains very high concentrations of scale forming components combined with a very high corrosivity potential. Chemicals are routinely deployed to control scale, corrosion, emulsions, foam, biological fouling and hydrates.
Two major step changes have occurred in the past 12 months that have delivered significant improvement to chemical management processes. The first is the use of a novel, best-in-class scale inhibitor chemistry. Two years were spent in an industry wide search as well as developing and extensively testing the chemical in the laboratory. The new chemical is now deployed on over 75% of the Miller wells. The longevity of scale prevention treatments has been doubled on some wells, when compared to the incumbent products.
