UK Oil & Gas plc has progressed its planned Horse Hill-2z (HH-2z) Portland formation water reinjection project in Surrey with the installation of three, shallow, groundwater monitoring boreholes.
REDUCE COSTS
The water injection programme aims to reduce the field’s operating costs by some £250,000 per year by eliminating “the substantive costs of tankering and disposing produced saline formation water at distant third-party sites”.
“The removal of tankering will also reduce the field’s overall carbon footprint,” added UKOG.
“The injection itself will help maintain reservoir pressure which can help improve ultimate oil recovery.”
BOREHOLES
The company said that initial sampling of the boreholes, which terminate within the impermeable Weald Clay formation, found no obvious groundwater immediately beneath the site.
Frequent sampling is designed to ensure that no produced saline Portland formation water penetrates into the Weald Clay sediments underlying the site.
UKOG has started a three-month baseline monitoring period before beginning reinjection operations.
ENVIRONMENT
Chief executive Stephen Sanderson added that the new boreholes were a key step towards delivering HH-2z produced water reinjection.
“The work is fully in keeping with current environmental standards and practices and demonstrates UKOG’s responsible attitude towards ensuring the area beneath the site remains as well protected as possible.”