Prevention of waste

Oklahoma City Gusher

Prevention of waste
Conservation of the resource
Environmental protection
Regulatory premises

Oil
Gas
Water (saline or fresh)
Nitrogen
Other gases (H2S, He)
(characteristics controlled by geologic settings)
Produced fluids

Environmental Issues
EXPLORATION
Site access
Seismic
PRODUCTION
Produced water
Hydrogen sulfide
Casinghead gas venting
Oil spills
Migratory birds
DRILLING AND COMPLETION
Area of land use
Drilling fluids
NORM
Blowouts
Protection of ground water
Protection of aqueous environments
POST-PRODUCTION
Plugging depleted wells
Salt dissolution
Reclamation

Issues and Answers
EXPLORATION
Seismic None Invasive Non-Invasive
Endangered species None Modified operating International
Land withdrawal None Private minerals International
Antiquities None Mitigation International
OLD
STANDARD
ADVANCED

The Old: 1920’s El Dorado Field, KS

EXPLORATION HAS CHANGED

For Sensitive Areas,
Helicopter Operations

Even the Drillers Wear Suits

Small impacts on land

Tarr Farm, PA, 1862

But Nature Heals: Tarr Farm, 1991, same view

Drilling has changed, from the turn of the century,

To the 1970’s,

To Fully Diapered Rigs

To
Advanced
Drilling
Systems...

Issues and Answers
PRODUCTION
Produced water Surface flowed Injected Re-used
Oil spills Natural Soil removal Microbial
H2S Vented Vapor & sulfur
recovery
Casinghead gas Vented Flared Re-injected
Migratory birds None Nets Eliminate
pits
OLD
STANDARD
ADVANCED
POST-PRODUCTION
Plugging Non, “dump stuff” Set plugs Reduce
verticals
Salt dissolution Not a problem Better design M.I. test
Site reclamation None Moderate Total

This Was The Old, and it Met the Standards of its Time…...

Modern Production Facilities Meet the Standards of Their Time...

Whether in the Rockies or the Great Plains…..

Or Arctic North Slope

ENERGY PRODUCTION MEETS ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS

Issues and Answers
OLD
STANDARD
ADVANCED

And nature is a willing
helper for solving
old problems
Pioneer & Funkville, Pennsylvania
1867
1984

Note: The sources of the original data:
Black line - HadCRUT4 from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre and University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit, baseline period 1850-1899 (Morice et al. 2012) with the grey area representing the 95% confidence range,
2) Red line – MLOST from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Centre, baseline period 1880-1899 (Smith et al., 2008), and
3) Blue line - GISSTemp from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies, baseline period 1880-1899 (Hansen et al., 2010).
Upper graph shows anomalies and lower graph shows decadal average anomalies for the same datasets. Europe is defined as the area between 35° to 70° North and -25° to 30° East, plus Turkey (35° to 40° North and 30° to 45° East).

Projected global energy demand to 2050

Role of Oil and Gas
Total world electricity generated by fuel, 2009.

Activities in the Petroleum Industry
Upstream
Exploration
Land & Aerial surveys, Satellite Images
Gravitational, Magnetic & Seismic Surveys
Exploration Drilling (“Wildcat”)
Formation Evaluation
Development
Drilling Appraisal/production wells
Production Facilities
Gathering Systems
Production
Downstream
Transportation
Refining
Marketing

Occurrence of Oil & Gas
On land
Offshore
Continental Shelves
Deep sea
Deserts
Wetlands
Forests
Mountainous areas
Arctic Region
Technological & Environmental challenges change with location type

Environmental issues
for the Oil & Gas Sector
The Oil & Gas Sector has a variety of impacts on the environment. These impacts depends upon the stage of the process, the size and complexity of the project, the nature and sensitivity of the surrounding environment and the effectiveness of planning, pollution prevention, mitigation and control techniques.
The major areas of environmental concern includes :
Atmospheric Impacts
Aquatic Impacts
Terrestrial Impacts
Ecosystem Impacts
Potential Emergencies

Environmental Impact
Atmospheric impacts
flaring, venting and purging gases
combustion processes such as diesel engines and gas turbines
fugitive gases from loading operations and losses from process equipment
airborne particulates from soil disturbance during construction and from vehicle traffic
The principal emission gases include
carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic carbons and nitrogen oxides

Environmental Impact (Contd.)
Aquatic impacts
produced water
drilling fluids, cuttings and well treatment chemicals
process, wash and drainage water
sewerage, sanitary and domestic wastes
spills and leakage
Potential impact on aquatic life, irrigation, drinking water, etc.

Environmental Impact (Contd.)
Terrestrial impacts
physical disturbance as a result of construction
contamination resulting from spillage and leakage
solid waste disposal
indirect impact arising from opening access and social change
Potential impact on forests, vegetation, agriculture, human and animal life

Exploration
Noise/Vibration
Dynamite
Vibration Truck
Air Gun
Marine Vessels
Disturbance to human/wildlife/marine life
Low Impact/Transient

Drilling (wildcats, appraisal, development)
Drilling Fluid (Mud)
Water/Oil/Synthetic based
Recycle, treatment, disposal by injection
Drill Cuttings
Land farming, burial, bio-remediation, injection
Site preparing
Roads
Camps-waste generation
Long lasting Impact

Production
Produced water
Salinity
Chemicals
Oil content
Treatment
Re-injection
Camp waste
Leakage/spillage
Flare
Noise/vibration
Engine exhaust

Transportation
land affected by construction
leakage/spillage
accidents – pipeline explosion, oil spill from tankers, etc.
Oil tanker
LNG tanker
Pipeline under construction

Waste Steam of Concern
Drilling Fluid
Drill Cuttings
Work-over and completion waste
Produced Water
Bottom Waste
Dehydration and Sweetening Waste
Camp Waste
Radioactive Material
3R Principle for waste management:
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Potential Emergencies
Spillage of fuel, oil, gas, chemicals and hazardous materials
Oil or gas well blowout
Explosions and Fires (facility and surrounds)
Natural disasters such as flood, earthquake, lightning
War and sabotage
Oil rig on fire
Oil spill from a tanker

Potential Emergencies (Spill)
The spill may include crude oil, or refined products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, etc.
Spills take months or even years to clean up.
Oil is also released into the environment from natural geologic seeps on the sea floor
Cleanup methods:
Bioremediation: use of microorganisms to break down or remove oil
Controlled burning: can reduce the amount of oil in water, but it can cause air pollution.
Dispersants: act as detergents, clustering around oil globules and allowing them to be carried away in the water.
Dredging: for oils dispersed with detergents
Skimming: Requires calm waters
Exxon Valdez accident, occurred in Alaska, on March 24, 1989. The vessel spilled about 40 million litres of crude oil into the sea, and the oil eventually covered 28,000,000 sq. km of ocean.

Potential Emergencies (Cont.)
Explosion and Fire: The Piper Alpha oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum in the North Sea. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on July 6, 1988, killing 167 persons. Total insured loss was about US$ 3.4 billion.
Indonesia Mud Volcano: It is in East Java, Indonesia that has been discharging mud since May 2006. Approximately 2,500 m³ of mud is expelled per day. It is expected that the flow will continue for the next 30 years. As of November 2008, the mud flow is contained by levees, but further breakouts are possible. It is not conclusively decided whether it started due to drilling activity or by a local earthquake

Potential GHG abatement projects in Upstream Oil & Gas Sector
Facilities for reduction of gas flaring through ejectors/compressors/separators/pipeline etc.
Waste heat recovery at oil production facilities.
Energy efficiency improvement in gas processing plant
Power factor improvement at oil installations
Reduction in gas pipe leaks
Fuel switch from fossil fuels to other cleaner fuels like natural gas
Captive power generation by utilizing natural gas
Oil tank head vapor recovery system

Summary
Global & Local energy scenario will be dominated by oil and gas.
The quest for oil and gas will therefore continue, which has a price in terms of environmental impact.
The petroleum industry takes many steps to keep the impacts to limits which are often set by regulatory bodies.
New technology and procedures are developed to meet environmental regulations and operate economically.

Sustainability and offshore oil and gas exploration and production

Key topics
Importance of sustainability to the oil and gas industry
Importance of sustainability to environmental regulators
Sustainability challenges facing the exploration and production industry
Key responses to these challenges
Future exploration and production sustainability challenges – methane hydrates

Sustainability
How to produce energy so as to sustain over many generations our society, environment and the economy.
Sustain: “to keep going”
Oxford English Dictionary

Sustainability Drivers
Increased population
Increased competition
Civil strife
Global climate change
Stakeholder and shareholder expectations

Population Projections

Importance of sustainability to the oil and gas E& P industry
A way to live one’s values
An approach to maximize environmental social and financial performance
An approach to have multi-generational impact
An approach to secure the “license to operate”

The importance of sustainability to environmental regulators
Environmental performance has improved because responsibility and accountability is dispersed throughout the company
The CEO, CFO, senior VP for corporate affairs, senior VP for environment health safety and sustainability all have a stake sustainability
Everyone in a corporation has a stake in sustainability
Sustainability is the link between environmental and social impact: environmental justice

Challenges: exploration and production
Historic and present challenges:
Flaring and venting
Decommissioning of oil and gas installations
Brent spar oil storage tank disposal
Management of drill cuttings
Produced waters
Drilling muds and fluids
System for estimating and validating greenhouse gas emissions
subsidence
Spills
Safety
enhanced profitability

Sustainability E&P responses
Venting and flaring: piping of gas to coastal facilities; use of gas as as an on platform source of energy
Use of solar and wind power generation on offshore production facilities
Spill prevention
Less harmful drilling muds and fluids
Safety improvements
New techniques to estimate and manage GHG emissions

Responses: the role of technology
Identify and development discovered reserves less intrusively
Faster elimination of non-prospective areas do more efficient basin modeling
Better subsurface imaging and interpretation using gravity and 4-D seismic data thereby decreasing the number unsuccessful wells
More efficient off take from smarter wells, requiring fewer wells per unit of production
Less environmentally intrusive handling of drill cuttings
Decreased venting and flaring
--Dr. John H. Barwis, Shell UK exploration and production

Sustainability reporting
Global reporting initiative
United Nations environment programs oil sector report
International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association and American Petroleum Institute joint corporate reporting project

Performance measures
Present Measures:
Emissions to air
Discharged water
Waste
Health and safety
Social
Resource management
Economic
Regulatory sanctions
Contractor performance
Management systems – ISO 14001

Performance measures
Future measures
Environmental impact of products
Health impact of processes in products
Access to sensitive areas
Land-use and habitat restoration
Climate change – GHG. trading
Stakeholder consultation
Strategic EHS risk management

Impact
Marine Mammals
Human Health Impact
Climate Change

Future challenges –
methane gas hydrates

What are Gas Hydrates?
The heat from the flame melts the hydrate thus releasing more methane to fuel the flame.
Notice the water dripping from the person’s hands.
www.gashydate.de/images/hand.jpg

Pipeline Plugging
Preventing Gas Hydrate formation accounts for
10-15% of the production costs
$1 Million per day for Methanol alone
www.spe.org/cda/images/ hydrate.jpg

Where Do Hydrates Form?
In sediments below the ocean floor
http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html

Geologic Settings
Images: Trehu et al., 2002
BSR
Seafloor

Data from USGS

CO2 Displaces Methane
Sketch of a proposed method to sequester CO2 while producing methane and possibly electricity.

An integrated approach
Offshore oil and gas exploration production is part of an overall system:
E& P
Transportation
Storage
Refining