ConocoPhillips Contracts CH2M HILL To Conduct Water Treatment Study

Study will provide cost-effective water treatment strategies and improve water discharge management for oil and gas industry

ConocoPhillips (COP), in collaboration with industry Partners under the Petroleum Environment Research Forum (PERF), formulated a study out of its Water Centre in Doha, to identify and explore the application of new and more sustainable, cost-efficient water treatment technologies used in the production of oil and gas. CH2M HILL, who has been at the forefront of water treatment innovation for more than 50 years, is leading The Cost-Effective Reverse Osmosis Concentrate Treatment and Brine Management Study.

The study, to be completed in December 2014, will evaluate and compare applicable treatment technologies for making produced water available for beneficial reuse. Following detailed analysis, including life cycle cost estimation, CH2M HILL will provide a list of recommendations that industry can implement in the near term and over a longer time horizon to improve water discharge management.

Water plays an integral role in the oil and gas industry, and as global oil production increases, volumes of produced water also increases. Presently, a gap exists in the industry to cost-effectively treat produced water for reuse. COP and its Partners developed this study as a way to identify and implement new technologies that will improve total water management within the industry.

“Our research experience, as well as our engineering and design experience, for the oil and gas industries has given us an understanding of the unique challenges faced in implementing new technologies within the construction, operations and maintenance constraints of the oil and gas field environment,” said Jim Lozier, CH2M HILL Vice President and Global Technology Leader for Desalination and Study Manager. “We are excited to leverage our experience in water treatment innovation to help ConocoPhillips and its Partners identify cost-effective strategies for treating produced water.”

CH2M HILL gathered a fully integrated team with international and nationally acclaimed academic and private industry researchers, who have made significant contributions to the understanding and application of traditional and new technologies for RO concentrate and brine management in both public and industrial sectors, to complete the study.

When completed, findings of the study will enable COP and Partners to progress the application of the most appropriate technologies to advance water treatment strategies in the oil and gas industry.

About CH2M HILL
Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm’s work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environment, nuclear, energy, facilities and urban environments. With US$6.6B in revenue and 26,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering by Verdantix. The firm was named Water Company of the Year at the 2012 Global Water Awards. For more information, visit ch2mhill.com.