How to treat feedwater on steam injection projects

Water treatment practices used by Getty Oil Co. in the San Joaquin Valley of California have minimized some serious problems associated with operation of oil field steam generators used on thermal recovery projects. Scale and corrosion are being controlled effectively and no generator tube failures attributable to either cause have been evident in more than 2 yr of operation. Methods used to control water hardness and oxygen content have also been operationally and economically successful. One of the largest and most successful steam injection projects is located in California's Kern River Field. Getty operates a central 100,000 bpd treating plant at Kern River that supplies 85 steam generators scattered throughout the field with soft, non-corrosive water. Although this article deals chiefly with excluding scale and oxygen from this system, basic treating concepts can be applied to any steam-injection operation.