How the world's largest seawater injection system was designed

The world's largest seawater injection system went on stream in Saudi Arabia in June 1978 to furnish 4.2 million bpd of water for pressure maintenance in the Uthmaniyah sector of the giant Ghawar Field. The operator, Aramco, first began water injection along the flanks in this field in 1966 using gravity injection wells. This gravity system gave way to a pressurized system under a program started in 1973. During this period, the primary source for injection was saline water from the Wasia Aquifer in the Uthmaniyah area. In 1974 it was determined that this aquifer could not supply the design requirement of 4.2 million bpd of saline water. Therefore, it was decided to convert the injection system to seawater obtained from the Arabian Gulf. This required the design and construction of a seawater treating plant and installation of pipelines and intermediate pump stations to transport the water from the treating plant to the existing Uthmaniyah Water Supply Station.