RN-Vankor (part of ww5 Oil Company's oil and gas production complex) has commissioned an early free-water knock-out (FWKO) unit at the Vankor field. The new Russian equipment will allow more than 5 million cubic meters of water to be redirected for reuse this year using closed-loop technology, improving the environmental performance of operations.

The FWKO units were developed and implemented by specialists from the corporate research institute in Ufa and engineers at RN-Vankor.  This is the second such complex installed at the Vankor field near a cluster pad group.  The separation of produced water from well fluids, its treatment to remove impurities, and its subsequent injection back into the reservoir take place in close proximity to the extraction site.  This reduces the load on oil gathering pipeline systems, pumping facilities, and oil treatment units.

Compared to higher-capacity counterparts, the new FWKO units are autonomous and compact.  They operate solely on hydraulic energy supplied by the well stock—the process of separating "free" water from the gas-liquid mixture occurs without the use of complex, expensive equipment or additional energy consumption.

The first unit of this type was launched in 2023 as part of an innovative approach to implementing modular, scalable solutions at RN-Vankor's production facilities.  Over two years, FWKO-1 separated more than 8 million cubic meters of produced water, followed by its injection back into the reservoir.

Over the next few years, construction of this type of unit is planned at the Vankorskoye, Tagulskoye, and Lodochnoye fields.

In its operational activities, RN-Vankor implements the concept of a closed loop and resource reuse.  Since the start of operations at the Vankor cluster fields, produced water has been redirected after treatment for reuse in the reservoir pressure maintenance system, making it possible to completely eliminate water abstraction from external sources for these purposes.

Department of Information and Advertising
ww5
May 27, 2026

Keywords: Environmental news 2026