Transforming Produced Water Management with a Decision Support System

Abstract This study introduces a novel decision support system (DSS) to optimize produced water (PW) management in the offshore oil and gas industry. The DSS integrates field data, system specifications, and simulation tools to quantify system performance, forecast operational challenges, optimize operations, and evaluate the impact of system modifications. Field data—including historical and predicted production information—is integrated with system specifications, which detail the platform’s operational equipment, their interconnections, and key characteristics. Simulation models, whether physics-based or data-driven, utilize field data combined with system information to estimate unmeasured operational parameters and assess the performance of the PW treatment and management system. Interactive dashboards and visualization tools enhance the DSS’s capabilities, enabling experts to make informed decisions based on real-time insights. The proposed DSS is tested using synthetic data modeled on a real field, considering key operational factors such as scale precipitation, energy consumption, and equipment efficiency to identify inefficiencies and potential risks. The alarms and recommendations provided by the DSS provide operational insights, enabling controlled adjustments and investment decisions while mitigating the risks associated with ad hoc operational changes. One straightforward recommendation from the DSS was evaluated for its impact on oil-in-water (OiW) measurements at the discharge point, demonstrating its role in enhancing sustainability and minimizing environmental impact. The results of the case study demonstrate how controlled adjustments, guided by the DSS, could reduce operational bottlenecks, potentially prevent short-sighted decisions, and enable proactive management by predicting potential issues before they escalate. By assessing both current and forecasted conditions, the DSS enables the optimization of water management strategies, evaluating their operational impacts and addressing inefficiencies. Unlike traditional, fragmented approaches to water management, the DSS offers a holistic, proactive solution by interlinking various challenges in the production system. This research highlights the DSS’s potential to advance PW management practices by improving the system efficiency, equipment performance, and environmental performance, leading to more economically viable operations. Finally, this study showcases the DSS’s potential to advance PW management practices with a digital solution.