SOHIO Produced-Water Treatment and Reinjection System

Fluor performed engineering, procurement and construction for SOHIO Construction Company's produced water treatment facilities at SOHIO's Prudhoe Bay, Alaska plant.

The completed facility received produced water from existing production facilities, separated oil from the water and purified the separated oil.

Client's Challenge

On the North Slope of Alaska, water that is produced with crude oil is pumped back into the formation to help maintain pressure in the reservoir. The purified water is injected into two separate geologic formations by high pressure turbine injection pumps. The oil is transferred to the pumping facility of the Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline.

Fluor's Solution

Modular design was used to overcome the problems of Arctic construction. Scheduling was critical, as the breakup of ice in the Arctic Circle occurs only during a six-week period in August or September.

Under Fluor's supervision, the plant was assembled and pretested in a fabrication yard, then barged to Alaska. There were 27 modules and other large skids of up to 670 tons each in the shipment. After successfully negotiating the ice floes to Prudhoe Bay, the modules were offloaded and transported by motorized crawlers to the site.

Conclusion

In addition to the design, procurement and construction of the modules and skids, Fluor performed the design, procurement and construction work for cross country pipelines at Prudhoe Bay, which conveyed the purified produced water to injection wells outside the oil gathering centers.