Safety Aspects of Water Injection Facilities

Abstract

Safety Aspects of Water Injection Facilities

Water injection facilities are often operated with scant regard to their hazard potential because water is considered safe, especially when compared with crude oil and gas. The paper describes, and uses photographic evidence of, examples of oilfields from around the world where high risks arose from factors such as corrosion, hydrogen sulphide, high pressures and hazardous chemicals. These were overlooked or ignored due, perhaps, to familiarity breeding contempt, and lack of training at the operator level. While too many production engineers and chemists the risks may seem obvious, the use of real-case examples should be of interest to them and especially to those responsible for HSE, including senior managers.