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Environment: Difference between revisions
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=== Wastewater disposal === | === Wastewater disposal === | ||
== Naturally ocurring radioactive materials == | == Naturally ocurring radioactive materials (NORM) == | ||
<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">concern</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> over possible health and environmental risks regarding Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) or Low Specific Activity Scale (LSA) in upstream operations </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">heightened</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> during the 1970s and 1980s, and it continues today. Early research on NORM, such as work by Gesell and E + P Forum, provided good background information and general guidelines, but did not lay out specific procedures and decision-logic steps for the variety of situations that occur in upstream and downstream settings. This was affected by the newness of the concerns as well as the complexity of trying to define two radioactive decay series along with the physical and chemical events that affect them over time in a variety of industrial environments.</span> | |||
Oil and chemical spills | Oil and chemical spills |
Revision as of 14:33, 19 August 2015
In the context of E&P, environment is a subsection of HSE that focuses on the effects E&P has on the external environment. Typically,the discipline deals with those effects that occur outside the E&P footprint. Included are the effects of air emissions, waste water discharges, and disposal of waste.
Air emissions
Recently, global climate change and air quality have become increasingly important environmental concerns.[1] Consequently, there has been a rise in collaborative international efforts to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), occuring naturally and as the result of human activity. Criteria pollutants include emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and total unburned hydrocarbons. Drilling contractors can play an important role in environmental stewardship by reporting carbon emissions from drilling operations, eliminating redundant emission measurements, and leading the industry in efforts to reduce these emissions.
Methane emissions
Carbon emissions
Reducing air emissions
Water use, produced water discharge and disposal
Water use and conservation
As water conservation becomes a more popular issue--in the oilfield and in other industries--many governments are creating new regulations to control the treatment, disposal, and storage of produced water. As if often the case with new regulations, the unintended consequences of the regulations can be beneficial, but sometimes worse than the original problem they were designed to alleviate. The importance of investigating the effects of regulatory requirements before implementation cannot be overstated.
Waste management
As a general trend in the industry and particularly in oil and gas activities, the problem of the waste disposal is becoming a key element of a good environmental management system.
Four principal factors contribute to this:
- Regulatory constraints are becoming stricter, both on an international and regional level, and all countries have now environmental regulations, that are revised regularly.
- A basic principle that has common practice, is the accountability of the producer of waste "from cradle to grave", i.e. full responsibility for wastes from time they are produced through their elimination or recovery.
- Ever stronger pressure from the media on the theme that is ultra-sensitive and where the explicit but restrictive concept of "zero discharge" is evident.
- Greater scientific knowledge, making it possible to really grasp the true environmental impact, especially trough increasingly effective analytical techniques, with a finely tuned ecotoxicological approach.
Wastewater disposal
Naturally ocurring radioactive materials (NORM)
The concern over possible health and environmental risks regarding Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) or Low Specific Activity Scale (LSA) in upstream operations heightened during the 1970s and 1980s, and it continues today. Early research on NORM, such as work by Gesell and E + P Forum, provided good background information and general guidelines, but did not lay out specific procedures and decision-logic steps for the variety of situations that occur in upstream and downstream settings. This was affected by the newness of the concerns as well as the complexity of trying to define two radioactive decay series along with the physical and chemical events that affect them over time in a variety of industrial environments.
Oil and chemical spills
Remediation and land reclamation
After an area of land is used for petroleum production, that land must be returned to a condition as close to its original state as possible. That can prove difficult because incidents like saline or oil spills can cause soil contamination that takes time and effort to repair.
The incorrect remediation of oil and gas field wastes can, at the very least, cause tension between the land owner and the production operator.[2] Unsatisfactory remediation could also lead to legal conflicts, wasting natural and capital resources. Fortunately, agricultural techniques are available by which most hydrocarbon releases and adverse environmental impacts can be corrected.
Traditional hydrocarbon [TPH] remediation methods include biotreating, composting, dilution, dilution burial, road spreading, reuseable resource technology, and ultra-violet ray treatment. This paper discusses land treatment and dilution only, because of the authors' desire to provide an in-depth presentation.
References
- ↑ Cadigan, M.F., Peyton, K. 2005. Baselining and Reducing Air Emissions from an Offshore Drilling Contractor's Perspective. Presented at the SPE/EPA/DOE Exploration and Production Environmental Conference, Galveston, TX, 7-9 March. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/94432-MSDocument IDSPE-94432-MS.
- ↑ Deuel, L.E.E., Holliday, G.H. 2003. Hydrocarbon Impacted Soil and Waste Remediation. Presented at the SPE/EPA/DOE Exploration and Production Environmental Conference, San Antonio, TX, 10-12 March. SPE-80596-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/80596-MS.