Recoverable oil

Lecture # 13

Soil protection and their rational use

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION ON UMG FIELDS

CAN ENVIRONMENTAL REHABILITATION PAY FOR ITSELF?
Included in the UMG loan was 3.3 million USD put aside for concerns related to the environment as mandated by WB procedure. From 1999 to the present, Ecology and Environment, Inc., (E&E) an American based company working with local subcontractors to include E&E Kazakhstan (E&EK) and CaspiEcology (CE), have endeavored to carry out the main environmental objectives within the selected Block 3A. They are:

• Perform an environmental audit;
• Conduct a pilot cleanup study and develop the best waste oil utilization strategy;
• Establish a state-of-the-art environmental laboratory;
• Develop Health and Safety and emergency response plans with associated equipment list;
• Define effective revegetation techniques

In past Soviet times the UMG field was environmentally exploited to a large extent. The main concern was to produce oil. Accordingly, the E&E Team faced very significant problems. A major objective was to not only to rehabilitate the environment but also to do so in a way that made such activities economically viable. In other words, make the rehabilitation pay for itself so UMG (and others) could justify to themselves the otherwise unprecedented and somewhat misunderstood environmental studies deemed necessary under the terms of the environmental loan. Using this approach, the Team felt that the present needs of UMG could be accomplished without compromising the current and future quality of environment around the field. Therefore, aspects of sustainable development would be realized.

To this extent our Team focused on two major endeavors, 1) oil field cleanup and waste oil recovery for sale or use as road material and 2) the construction of a profitable environmental laboratory that could be used by UMG and other companies to reliably measure the degree of environmental degradation or improvement with time.

Fig 1. Oil pool created during drilling operations

RECOVERABLE OIL

From an environmental audit on Block 3A and subsequent mapping throughout the whole field, the Team estimated that, in total, over 3 km2 was contaminated with oil in total at the time of assessment with over 2.5 million tons of recoverable crude in the ground. Local officials say that over 4.5 million tons had been spilled over the years due to ruptured and antiquated, pipelines and well drilling practices that allowed oil to accumulate in unrestrained pools during testing procedures (Fig 1). Several large accidents near the Primary Processing Unit resulted in the formation of an oil “lagoon” containing about 600,000 tons of recoverable crude. From an environmental standpoint, the main concern of such contamination is the effect on local air quality, ground water, animal and plant life, and landscape. The direct and indirect impact to human health was deemed minimal.

Due to the regions low precipitation, high summer temperatures, and strong wind (which limits inhalation concerns caused by escaping gases), the spilled crude does not deteriorate readily but rather forms a crust that effects the establishment of animal and plant life. Furthermore, indiscriminate driving and dragging of equipment between irregular positioned wells removed over 75% of vegetation cover. The resulting visual “wasteland” appearance of this on future generations is deemed considerable but is tempered by the field’s current isolated location. However, the production area does contain rather striking canyon-like weathered chalk landscape that may, in future, be further appreciated.

Fig 2. Gathering of spilled oil for treatment

Financial Benefits
The team’s first goal to confront this problem was prevention in the form of emergency response plans, training, and organization of needed equipment. Although such prevention is initially expensive, it is far more cost effective than e.g., unattended pipeline ruptures that had, in the past, leaked oil for days. The second goal, cleanup and economic recovery, was a much larger task (Fig. 2). Together with the UMG and KO staff, the E&E Team researched technologies that might be appropriate for this effort. They include:

• Bioremediation;
• Gravity separation;
• Water and solvent washing;
• Thermal desorption; and
• Road making material.

Fig 3. Oil waste treatment scheme

These technologies vary from simple to complex; the goal is to integrate advantageous aspects of each into an overall approach. In this regard, we have formulated a scheme for oil waste treatment (Fig 3). Depending on the effectiveness of the treatment scheme, the treated soil can be used for road material, plant growth media or to fill pits and trenches created by other activities. Based on the estimate of 2.5 million tons of recoverable waste oil and average net price UMG is receiving for their crude, we conservatively estimated that an additional income in excess of 30 million USD could be realized. This includes the cost of reasonable cleanup of the whole field, recovery and treatment of the crude. Moreover, the benefit can be enhanced by utilizing the less economically viable portion of oil sludge to produce asphalt. The asphalt would be used to repair and define the haphazard oil field road system and therefore reduce hazard to human health and impact to flora and fauna.

On average, the Team estimated that oil pits created during well testing and pipeline rupture may result in UMG loosing $30,000 USD per pit. The majority of this expenditure can be recovered if procedures on the collection and segregation of spilled oil developed by the Team are followed. These suggestions promote the best aspects of the currently used practices while incorporating innovative techniques and equipment suggested.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-26