Harnessing the fluids heat to improve mature oil field: The Villafortuna-Trecate case study

Mature oil fields are characterized by a large amount of co-produced water. Oil dewatering and water injection operations tend to increase operational expenditure (OPEX). Therefore, oil companies are seeking to improve production processes. The waste heat recovery from the produced stream could be a quite interesting option. Increase in profitability of small oil and gas producers as well as the possible reuse of an oil field as the geothermal one are specific goals. Considering the large number of oil wells that are abandoned every year and that could be potentially exploited to produce energy again, their reuse becomes a need. The present study analyses the implementation of the heat harnessing concept to the depleted oil field of Villafortuna-Trecate. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.