Opportunities for recycling produced water in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Applied Science [Environmental Management] at Lincoln University

Abstract

The demand for clean water is drastically increasing in many parts of the world especially in arid region's countries. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which include Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, the scarcity of rainfall coupled with extreme limitation of renewable water resources in a very arid region has greatly affected meeting their elevated demand for water. This demand comes mainly from the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors in GCC countries.

One of the most significant sectors that depend heavily on water resources comes from the oil industry for the purpose of oil recovery and reservoir pressure maintenance especially in mature oil fields. Produced water, which is considered the largest volume of waste generated during oil production, increases globally at a rate of 10% per year. Since GCC countries are considered the world top oil producers, it is significant to assess their current practices in dealing with the produced water to take a full advantage of it to reduce the impact of their water shortage. The objective of this dissertation was to evaluate if produced water in the GCC countries can be considered as a potential suitable water resource, which can be used as an advantage to meet the increasing demand for water in the region.

Several favourable factors support the feasibility of using produced water as a potential water resource in the GCC countries. These include the presence of large amounts of produced water, relative good quality, treatment opportunities, cost effectiveness, and the high needs for it. However, there are other important elements that need to be considered to optimise the opportunity of using produced water in these countries. These include improving produced water management, integration of produced water with other water resources, and implementing produced water policy in the GCC countries.