MUSCAT, NOV 3 - The Nimr Water Treatment Project (NWTP) in south Oman, billed as the largest industrial constructed wetland system in the world, has won the Award of Excellence in Climate Action at the Qatar Sustainability Summit 2019 held in Doha recently. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Bauer Nimr are joint venture partners in the desert greening initiative, which has contributed to significant CO2 emission reductions. The award was presented by Dr Yousef Mohamed al Horr, founding chairman of the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. The project was recognized for its contribution to greening degraded desert lands, innovative water solutions and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Bauer Nimr LLC (BNO) was formed with the aim to develop and construct a wetland and operate a water treatment plant for the treatment of residual waters produced by PDO oil wells in the Nimr oil fields. BNO is the owner and operator of Nimr Water Treatment Project (NWTP), consisting of a series of sloping reed fields and evaporation ponds. This treatment results in higher oil recovery and lower energy consumption compared to traditional disposal method — the reinjection into deep aquifers using energy-intensive high-pressure pumps. The NWTP treats 175,000 m3/day produced water biologically in a series of 500 hactares wetland terraces. PDO entered into produced water contract with BNO in 2009 and has progressively increased the contracted volume thereafter.
“The implementation of nature-based environmental solutions has been a game changer to Petroleum Development Oman. Not only is the produced water being treated to meet stringent effluent standards, it also allows us to reuse the produced water to foster economic diversification through implementation of biosaline agriculture. Combined with a shift from energy-intensive deep well disposal to gravity flow surface treatment, we are able to reduce CO2 emissions levels by 225,000 tons per annum,” said Dennis Kronborg Alexandersen, international business development director at Bauer Nimr.
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