During the summer semester of 2014 University of Utah MS Petroleum Engineering students visited 14 engineering operations and facilities. The goal was first hand exposure to oil and gas operations in Utah and Wyoming. Following the visit to Tesoro’s North Salt Lake refinery [link], students toured Newfield Exploration Company’s (Newfield) Greater Monument Butte Unit to observe its water management infrastructure. 
The Greater Monument Butte Unit (GMBU) waterflood is Newfield’s largest asset in the Rocky Mountains with 1300 productive oil wells. GMBU produces primarily from the Green River formation, but Newfield has been exploring deeper vertical and horizontal plays in its acreage, including the Wasatch and Uteland Butte formations. Currently, GMBU operates on waterflood which presents both a great benefit and challenge to Newfield’s production. Along with the boost in oil production comes a much greater volume of reservoir fluids to process. Newfield has developed an extensive waterflood infrastructure within GMBU to recycle and reinject as much produced water as possible back into its waterflood operation. Given the saline nature of formation water, including high total dissolved solids (TDS), this water must be treated before injected downhole to avoid plugging the formation. Students toured Newfield’s GasOil Separation Plant (GOSP), where hydrocarbons are stripped from the water and the downstream Sand Wash water treatment facility to observe how water is treated to meet TDS requirements and other specifications before being piped to injection wells. In Utah’s Uinta Basin, water is a precious resource. Newfield has made significant capital expenditures to conserve water resources as a good steward of the environment and the community, and to extend the life of its Uinta Basin assets. 
Over the course of the field study, students encountered a diverse range of petroleumrelated operations. These encompassed E&P operations, midstream and downstream facilities, as well as enduse applications. Students also met with service providers and recruiters. The Department of Chemical Engineering was fortunate to work with many of Utah and Wyoming’s key energy companies; including ConocoPhillips, XTO, Savage Energy Services, Fidelity, Resolute, Wolverine, PacifiCorp, Utah Geologic Survey, Tesoro, Newfield, Crescent Point, Red Leaf, U.S. Oil Sands, Halliburton, Questar, and ExxonMobil. Each organization’s willingness to showcase their work and their facilities offered our students a unique opportunity to understand the full lifecycle of hydrocarbon commodities and highlighted potential career paths.
