US-based ProSep has launched a year-long industry technology facilitator (ITF) joint industry project (JIP) in the Middle East with Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO)
The firms will cooperate on an offshore unit for media regeneration and oil-in-water removal, in what will be the first project of its kind in the Middle East, involving collaboration between two national oil companies.
The project, which began in December 2014, will use ProSep's Osorb Media-produced water treatment technology.
The technology absorbs free, dispersed and water soluble hydrocarbons as well as absorbing oilfield chemicals from water produced for discharge or re-injection, and ProSep will identify its performance using capture and regeneration cycles on specific water streams.
A commercial unit will be commissioned for three months and brought into the target process for additional trialling in order to adapt the technology into the field.
ITF chief executive Patrick O'Brien said, "This project marks the first truly collaborative ITF-sponsored JIP between two national oil companies in the Middle East.
"We are delighted to facilitate this collaborative technology development in the Gulf Cooperation Council and look forward to seeing the results that ProSep achieves."
Preliminary media testing has already started, and the next steering group meeting in Doha, Qatar is scheduled for March.
