Relative Use of Saline and Freshwater Sources

Another way to look at the oilfield injection data is to consider the relative proportion of each type of source water used. As noted on the main indicator page, total source water volume injected has remained relatively steady for the past twenty-five years, fluctuating between roughly 48 and 58 million cubic metres per year. However, as shown by the chart below, the type of source water used is changing - moving away from fresher sources and more towards less desirable saline groundwater sources. Until the mid-1980's, saline groundwater was typically less than 3% of the total volume of water used to recover oil. In 2006, that number was approaching 38%.