Basic sediment and water
Encyclopedia
Basic sediment and water (BS&W) is a technical specification of certain impurities in crude oil. When extracted from an oil reservoir
, the crude oil will contain some amount of saltwater and particulate matter from the reservoir formation. The particulate matter is also known as sediment or mud. The water content can vary greatly from field to field, and may be present in large quantities if oil extraction is enhanced using water injection
technology. The bulk of the water and sediment is usually separated at the field to minimize the quantity that needs to be transported further. The residual content of these unwanted impurities is measured as BS&W. Oil refineries
may either buy crude to a certain BS&W specification or may alternatively have initial crude oil desalting
process units that reduce the BS&W to acceptable limits, or a combination thereof.
Oil reservoir
A petroleum reservoir, or oil and gas reservoir, is a subsurface pool of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. The naturally occurring hydrocarbons, such as crude oil or natural gas, are trapped by overlying rock formations with lower permeability...
, the crude oil will contain some amount of saltwater and particulate matter from the reservoir formation. The particulate matter is also known as sediment or mud. The water content can vary greatly from field to field, and may be present in large quantities if oil extraction is enhanced using water injection
Water injection (oil production)
Water injection refers to the method in oil industry where water is injected back into the reservoir, usually to increase pressure and thereby stimulate production. Water injection wells can be found both on- and offshore, to increase oil recovery from an existing reservoir...
technology. The bulk of the water and sediment is usually separated at the field to minimize the quantity that needs to be transported further. The residual content of these unwanted impurities is measured as BS&W. Oil refineries
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
may either buy crude to a certain BS&W specification or may alternatively have initial crude oil desalting
Desalter
A desalter is a process unit on an oil refinery that removes salt from the crude oil. The salt is dissolved in the water in the crude oil, not in the crude oil itself. The desalting is usually the first process in crude oil refining. The salt content after the desalter is usually measured in PTB -...
process units that reduce the BS&W to acceptable limits, or a combination thereof.
Sources
- http://www.eesiflo.com/bs&w-lact-watercut.html A brief consideration of installing bs&w meters and laboratory analysis