After 60 years of production, Rumaila’s reservoirs are changing. The pressure levels in the reservoirs in the north of the field have dropped. This is part of a process called base decline and is common to all oilfields (although the rate of decline varies).
Without addressing this issue and undertaking activities such as maintaining wells across the field, Rumaila’s production would fall by hundreds of thousands of barrels each day.
However, Rumaila has not only maintained but also increased production levels over the past 10 years. We are beating the base decline thanks to our various activities and interventions.
The ROO took over operation of the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant (QAWTP) in March 2013, when injection was around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of water.
By June 2021, water injection averaged 1.4 million bpd and reached a one-day peak of 1.681 million barrels in May 2021. This water has very high saline levels making it unsuitable for drinking or domestic use and is treated to the correct specifications so that it can be safely injected into reservoirs. This has only been possible thanks to the investment made in the water injection infrastructure (at QAWTP and renovations to pumping stations and associated flowlines) and the efforts of all our people.
Looking to the future, Rumaila needs to boost production from the Mishrif reservoir in the south of the field. Cluster pump station six (CPS-6) is a brand-new facility which has been constructed for this purpose and is the first of its kind at Rumaila for some 40 years.
About CPS-6
