One of the major issues faced by the oil industry in the Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs is the high concentration of CO2 present in the formation gas. This component is produced together with the oil and water,  and is present in the natural gas stream of the production process and must be separated by using CO2 capture/separation techniques (membrenes, chemical absorption, etc). The CO2-rich stream has then been reinjected into the reservoir for enhanced recovery purposes (EOR) and avoiding the  greenhouse effect. Some of the problems associated with the significant presence of CO2 are: high internal corrosion effects influences on the physics of inorganic scaling; challenges related to the complex phase behaviour of the gas-oil-water-wax mixtures; liquid-like behaviour of the gas phase; anomalous wax appearence temperature versus pressure; increase in the Joule-Thomson isenthalpic coefficient, which leads to a strong cooling of CO2-rich pipes, subject to decompression; and complex unit operations of the topside process plant.

In order to address the mentioned challenges, it is proposed to create a digital environment which integrates the production lines, processing unit and reinjection lines, prepared for the study of cases in which the fluids are rich in CO2. This will help to increase longevity of production from pre-salt reservoirs, minimize operational risks, increase the safety of production systems and reduce environmental impacts. This integrative platform will meet the main requirements of digital transformation in oil and gas industry that, according to an analysis by the World Economic Forum, has the potential to create between 2016 and 2025 around 1 trillion dollars in value for oil companies and gas.