❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice probes the Ungani oilfield's operations, focusing on water cut ratio, waste management, chemical usage, gas venting, and environmental reporting. The Minister's response provides data and justifications for practices, while declining to release certain reports due to regulatory constraints.
AnsweredQoN 1375Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) Within Petroleum Licences L20 and L21 (the Ungani oilfield), what is the water cut ratio (the water versus oil ratio), for all production wells for each of the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively? (2) Which wells at Ungani are currently producing oil? (3) Which wells at Ungani are currently used as injection wells for disposal of Produced Formation Water (PFW)? (4) How much PFW is currently produced at the Ungani Production Facility per day? (5) How much PFW is re-injected into injection wells at the Ungani oil field annually? (6) Is the PFW tested before re-injection into injection wells, and if yes: (a) who carries out the testing; (b) what is the composition of the PFW; and (c) where are the testing results reported? (7) Is the PFW filtered to remove unacceptable waste prior to being re-injected? (8) If no to (7), why not? (9) If the PFW is filtered, where is the waste removed from the PFW disposed of? (10) How much gas is vented by the cold gas vent system at the Ungani Production Facility, on a daily and annual basis? (11) What is the composition of the gas vented by the cold gas vent system at the Ungani Production Facility? (12) What types of acids are being used in the Ungani production wells and what are they used for? (13) What volumes of acid are being used at the Ungani production wells? (14) When was the last onsite inspection by DMIRS of the Ungani Production Facility? (15) When was the last onsite inspection by DMIRS of the Ungani production wells? (16) When was the last onsite inspection by DMIRS of the Ungani injection wells? (17) What volumes of chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid, per day? (18) What types of chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid? (19) Will the Minister release Buru Energy’s Annual Environmental Report for all activities in Petroleum Licence L20 and L21? (20) If no to (19), why not? (21) Will the Minister release Buru Energy’s latest inspection report for all activities in Petroleum Licence L20 and L21? (22) If no to (21), why not? (23) Why does the publicly available summary version of the Ungani Production Facility Commissioning andOperations Environment Plan, dated 17/9/2021, differ significantly from the full plan, dated 12/09/2022, in that the summary omits the key information about the change of a production well to a waste water injection well?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
9 May 2023
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Mines and Petroleum
Response time
1 days
(1) Water cut ratio at Ungani oilfield, within L 20 and L 21:
Year Ratio
2018 4.29
2019 6.88
2020 13.7
2021 32.45
2022 59.67
(2) Ungani has stopped oil production since February 2023 due to cyclonic weather and flooding.
(3) Ungani 3 and Ungani West 1
(4) In 2022 Buru produced 730,500 standard cubic metres (sm3) of PFW, which is approximately equal to 2,001 sm3 per day.
(5) During 2022, Buru re-injected 771,179 sm3 of PFW into injection wells.
(6) No
(7) Yes
(8) Not applicable
(9) Waste is removed to a Licensed Waste Facility
(10) Vented gas is reported on a monthly basis. Daily average is 3,057 sm3 and annually it is approximately 1,116,000 sm3
(11) Methane CH4
(12) None are used in the Ungani production wells.
(13) Zero.
(14) 23 October 2019
(15) 23 October 2019
(16) 23 October 2019
(17) Volumes of chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid, per day as below.
Downhole chemical injection unit
Surface chemical injection skid
Producer wells
Nil
70 L/day
Injection wells
12 to 24 L/day (1000 to 2000 L per well every 12 weeks)
Nil
(18) Chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid as below.
Downhole chemical injection unit
Surface chemical injection skid
Producer wells
Nil
Scale inhibitors, emulsion breakers, corrosion inhibitors, oxygen scavengers and biocides
Injection wells
Hydrochloric acid
Nil
(19) No
(20) There are no provisions within petroleum regulations permitting the release of annual environmental reports for petroleum activities.
(21) No
(22) There are no provisions within petroleum regulations permitting the release of inspection reports.
(23) Revision 18a of the Ungani Production Facility Commissioning and Operations Environment Plan (EP) was submitted as a result of a minor change in activity. Given this was already described as an activity in the previously approved EP (revision 18), the submission of the EP Summary (revision 0) as a publicly available summary document to EP, revision 18a was accepted. This EP and the EP Summary was determined by DMIRS to satisfy the requirements of the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources (Environment) Regulations 2012 on 11 October 2022.
Year Ratio
2018 4.29
2019 6.88
2020 13.7
2021 32.45
2022 59.67
(2) Ungani has stopped oil production since February 2023 due to cyclonic weather and flooding.
(3) Ungani 3 and Ungani West 1
(4) In 2022 Buru produced 730,500 standard cubic metres (sm3) of PFW, which is approximately equal to 2,001 sm3 per day.
(5) During 2022, Buru re-injected 771,179 sm3 of PFW into injection wells.
(6) No
(7) Yes
(8) Not applicable
(9) Waste is removed to a Licensed Waste Facility
(10) Vented gas is reported on a monthly basis. Daily average is 3,057 sm3 and annually it is approximately 1,116,000 sm3
(11) Methane CH4
(12) None are used in the Ungani production wells.
(13) Zero.
(14) 23 October 2019
(15) 23 October 2019
(16) 23 October 2019
(17) Volumes of chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid, per day as below.
Downhole chemical injection unit
Surface chemical injection skid
Producer wells
Nil
70 L/day
Injection wells
12 to 24 L/day (1000 to 2000 L per well every 12 weeks)
Nil
(18) Chemicals are being injected by the downhole chemical injection unit and the surface chemical injection skid as below.
Downhole chemical injection unit
Surface chemical injection skid
Producer wells
Nil
Scale inhibitors, emulsion breakers, corrosion inhibitors, oxygen scavengers and biocides
Injection wells
Hydrochloric acid
Nil
(19) No
(20) There are no provisions within petroleum regulations permitting the release of annual environmental reports for petroleum activities.
(21) No
(22) There are no provisions within petroleum regulations permitting the release of inspection reports.
(23) Revision 18a of the Ungani Production Facility Commissioning and Operations Environment Plan (EP) was submitted as a result of a minor change in activity. Given this was already described as an activity in the previously approved EP (revision 18), the submission of the EP Summary (revision 0) as a publicly available summary document to EP, revision 18a was accepted. This EP and the EP Summary was determined by DMIRS to satisfy the requirements of the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Resources (Environment) Regulations 2012 on 11 October 2022.
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