Veolia's commitment to water conservancy has been recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Corporate Citizenship Center. Our sustainable solution for managing produced water at Chevron's San Ardo oil field in California was included in the Foundation's recent report, "From Scarcity to Abundance," along with a broad range of other sustainable water management solutions.
Protecting water resources to support industrial sustainability and healthy ecosystems
Global water shortages continue to grow, with water scarcity affecting every continent and 2.8 billion people around the world. The Foundation's compilation of water case studies showcases innovative corporate approaches to helping solve global water challenges, like Veolia's project with Chevron San Ardo that cleans and recycles produced water for local acquifer discharge and steam generation.
Our Produced Water Solution for Chevron
Chevron's San Ardo oil field in Southern California recovers more than 10,000 barrels of heavy oil each day. The oil extraction process generates large volumes of produced water that require treatment and management, typically disposed of by deep well injection. Veolia was challenged to develop a sustainable solution to treat 150,000 barrels of produced water daily, and oversee the facility's operations and maintenance requirements.
To achieve this requirement, Veolia provided an Engineer-Procure (EP) and operates a produced water management facility at this oil field that features the first-ever installation of OPUS® (Optimized Pretreatment and Unique Separation) technology. In this case, the treated water is used in two ways – it is reused for steam generation, and then released into aquifer recharge basins that replenish local water resources and increase available oil for recovery. By developing a sustainable solution that allows up to 50,000 barrels per day of produced water for surface discharge and another 75,000 barrels per day for steam generation, Veolia is helping Chevron minimize its environmental impact on water-stressed California by returning clean water to the aquifer recharge basins.