Environmental Management for Sustainable Oil and Gas Development

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of oil and gas production, specifically focusing on its effects on soil. It details the various sources of soil contamination, including physical disturbances, waste disposal, and chemical leakage. The report then explores method...Read More

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.) The impact of the oil and gas production on the environment...............................................3
2.) Analyzing and discussing how the impact of oil and gas on soil can be minimized or
prevented .....................................................................................................................................4
3.) Technologies for environment protection...............................................................................6
4. Developing a monitoring scheme and an enforcement program ............................................7
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................7
References .......................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Oil and gas industry is among the highest profit generating and growing sector of UK.
The industry provide job opportunity to significant number of individuals and thus serve as
major economic booster. However, the industry has direct impact, on quality of soil, air and
water. Therefore, proper actions must be taken to resolve the issues that are faced by the industry
(Environmental management in oil and gas upstream industry in UK. 2016). From the present
report, various aspect of oil and gas industry will be studied/ in this report, clear understanding
will be shown of impact of oil and gas exploration on the environment. Along with that,
description on actions taken by consumers and government to strengthen the measures for
sustainable development of oil and gas industry are provided. In this study, a monitoring scheme
and an enforcement program for protecting environment from this sector are discussed as well.
TASK 1
1) Impact of oil and gas production on environment
Critical analysis of oil and gas exploration and production:
During the production phase of oil and gas, the environment is directly affected. Major
activities that occur during the exploration time include sesmic exploration and exploratory well
drilling which also damage the soil (O'riordan, 2014). Oil industry have adverse impact on the
environment . It leads to air soil and water pollution..
There are variety of chemicals used during drilling and production time of oil and gas.
Many types of wastes which are produced by this process leads to soil erosion pollution of water
bodies etc. (Welford, 2013). the quality of soil is effected by following reason.
 Physical disturbance by construction
 Indirect impact from opening access and social change
 Contamination resulting from leakage or solid waste disposal
Production and exploration of oil & gas products results in soil erosion due to disposal of
heavy wastes. The waste products are majorly disposed near drilling and production sites which
in turn results in soil or land pollution. In order to reduce the soil pollution, well pads can be
developed to dispose the waste material. This also helps in extracting vegetation and top layer of
soil (Lehmann and Joseph, 2015). Further, soil and unusable water resources are damaged
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through pollutant’s migration pathway. Soil disturbance and erosion negatively affects nutrient’s
balance and microbial activity in the soil.
Land and marine ecosystem is also disturbed by exploring and drilling. Oil and gas
development activities include ground clearing, grading, drilling fluids and exploration of useful
products (Ghai and Vivian, 2014). The oil products explored contain waste materials such as
chemical additives or hydrocarbon. The waste particles are released in an uncontrolled manner in
the environment and affects flora and fauna. Moreover, sand originated from reservoir is
separated from formation fluids through hydrocarbon processing. Presence of hydrocarbon
chemical waste also causes soil pollution. It can be therefore said that oil and gas production
facility often causes significant land erosion.
2.) Analysing the way in which impact of oil and gas on soil can be minimized
In accordance with the views of Soil Science Society of America, soil is an important
element that helps in sustaining the life of living beings on earth. In addition to this aspect, soil
supports and nurtures the fruits, vegetables and plants that are consumed by humans and
livestock. Soil also plays an important role in purifying and filtering the water that is used for
drinking purpose. Other than this, it can be stated that soil helps in birth of microorganisms that
further provides life rescuing medicines. Further, safeguarding soil from eroding will assist in
minimizing the quantity of air-borne dust that is inhaled or respired-in by living beings (Yusuf
and et.al, 2014). Therefore, it is important for Oil and Gas companies to take viable actions to
reduce the soil pollution. It has been identified that there is drastic impact of oil and gas
production on the quality of land. It leads to degradation of soil, which results in loss of
vegetation.
Drilling process involved in production of oil results in loss of top layer which is the
main cause of soil erosion. Further, waste produced in the production of oil leads to
contamination of soil. Further, various chemicals developed during different stages of oil
production leads to the development of pit which is not a good factor for maintaining the
fruitfulness of soil (Dehghanpour and et.al, 2013). It is important for companies to have
information about the kind of soil in contaminated area and property of the crude oil so that right
treatment can be done for spoiled areas.
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As per the research conducted by Soil science society of America, oil and gas exploration
leads to production of approximate 500 ton of waste from every fresh well. Few of the wells are
also drenched with hydrocarbons and patterned with prospective toxic minerals, harmful salts,
etc. Also, 45% of crude oil chemicals spilled in the last decade, stayed in land after initial
cleansing and thus, leads to contamination of soil which also reaches to the ground water
(Kharak and et.al, 2013). Therefore, it is important for Oil and Gas companies to use different
techniques for minimizing such impact. In this respect, technique like berms can be used which
will prevent soil from spoilage. Berm can be defined as a level space or elevated barrier that
detach two areas. It prevents soil erosion by minimizing the area of surface run-off. It further
minimizes the velocity of water in regions that are not sensitive to erosion, thereby reduces the
adverse impact of running water on exposed topsoil. Further, organisations can be suggested to
use a drip tray that is especially designed to accumulate engine oil and prevent it from spilling.
Thereafter, companies using oil in production process can store all the fluid chemicals and waste
in spill proof containers. Along with that, shovels and other different road equipment can be used
to clear the oil spilled on land surface especially beaches. In addition to this technique, vacuum
can be used for cleaning the oil on land and water surface.
Furthermore, organisation can use soil air suction method for treating the soil that is
contaminated by oil production. Soil air suction is an effective way through which the
adulterated soil air is removed with the help of vacuum. This method also helps in separating the
volatile hydrocarbons from contaminated portion (Michalski and Ficek, 2016). In addition to
these methods, in situ stem injection method can be used which helps in increasing the separation
of volatile compounds using thermal treatment. In this method, steam at extreme temperature is
injected into soil that is having impurities so that contaminants can be changed into volatile or
gaseous phase. Discharged air, vapour or hydrocarbons are detached with the use of extraction
wells. Other than this, ex situ treatment method can be used which enable an effectual usage of
off site remediation facility to remove the contaminated soil. However, this method can be
applied only when the soil contamination amount is low or it can take place at the location in
commercial estate or residential area where the In situ treatment is not feasible. It will further
involve thermal methods involving steam stripping and combustion to reduce soil contamination.
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In addition to this aspect, biological and extraction methods are used by disassociating the
impurities from soil.
3) Technologies for environment protection
Impact of soil and oil production and exploration can be reduced by technology that
greatly increases the efficiency of exploration and drilling activities. Horizontal and directional
drilling makes use to produce oil from a much larger area without polluting soil (Kelland, 2014).
These technologies serve to make the exploration and production of natural gas more efficient.
Improvement in environment performance has occurred in every stage of oil and natural gas
development for offshore operation.
New technology is as follow:
 Co²EOR technology: Research and development has been conducted on Co²EOR
(known as oil recovery by injecting carbon dioxide). It is one of the technologies of EOR
to improve oil recovery. After combining CCS (carbon dioxide capture and storage) and
Co²EOR, we can use the same to remove wastage from the ground. (Kelland, 2014).
After thorough research and developmental studies, this technology has been innovated
with an aim to establish environmental protection technologies which also helps in
increasing revenue.
 FMS technology: It is another technology for environmental protection. Here, oil and
solid controlled in produced water are flocculated by using magnetic powder and
flocculating agent. All waste things are separated from water by using a strong magnet to
attract its impurity (Vidic and et.al, 2013). FMS equipment is to improve the quality of
water which is polluted by oil and gas production. It also pulls global attention as is it
very useful for the environment protection.
 3-D and 4-D seismic imaging: Development of 3-D and 4-D seismic imaging in three
dimensions process for protecting environment from pollution Through this technology,
it can identify natural gas prospects more easily. This tool bound the sound waves as they
echo within earth. Benefits of this machine are majorly the technological developments
which have made geologist effort to find oil and natural gas beneath the surface (Tissot
and Welte, 2012). Seismic and drilling technology including horizontal drilling methods
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have reduced the land surface. Waste from oil exploration can be separated from soil in a
manner to avoid soil pollution.
Different drilling and completion techniques must be used in various areas to respond to
the heterogeneity of tight gas accumulation in both geology and surface environmental settings
(O'riordan, 2014). There are various improvements in well testing procedure and technology has
been adopted for protecting the environment. By developing technologies, effective drill bits also
reduce the chemical addition in soil and separate complete wastage produced by exploration of
oil and gas.
4. Developing a monitoring scheme and an enforcement program
By focusing on sound monitoring scheme, management can ensure that operations of
entity are not causing any harmful impact on its surroundings; soil, water and air. In this respect,
oil and gas firm can use various environmental systems such as biotic index. There are many
chemical techniques that are used to check the level of pollution (Werner and et.al, 2015).
Present change in its level can be compared with previous figures so as to know that whether
pollution from oil and gas is rising or reducing. It will also help in checking the effectiveness of
techniques that are recently used by management to reduce the impact of oil and gas on soil.
Further, a team of experts can be made to monitor the oil and gas production system so
that they can check the loopholes in entire process and take suitable actions in the future.
Environment friendly technique can be adopted to reduce the harmful impact on environment
(Bamberger and Oswald, 2012). Exploration method used by entity must be less hazardous.
Different stakeholders can be requested to give their opinions on the methods and practices used
by corporation.
More constructive opinion will clearly indicate that whether company is going in the
right direction or not. Similarly, positive support from government and other administrative
authorities is also an indication that firm is moving on the right track and has adopted suitable
measures to minimize the harmful impact of its operations on environment (Hickenbottom, and
et.al, 2013). Other than this, CSR practices like planting trees and waste management also plays
a viable role in enforcing the environmental friendly practices of company.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be articulated that oil and gas exploration and production
are having a great impact on environment. Through this production, soil, water and air gets
polluted which affects the environment and life of living beings as well. Various prevented
measures are taken by the industry so that environmental pollution can be prevented. New
technologies such as Co²EOR and FMS are used by industries to protect the surroundings. By
this technology, compete waste gets separated from water and soil and disposing in same
ground.. Through focusing on sound scheme program, management can ensure that operations of
entity are not causing any harmful impact on its environment like on soil, water and air.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Adgate, J. L., Goldstein, B. D. and McKenzie, L. M., 2014. Potential public health hazards,
exposures and health effects from unconventional natural gas development.
Environmental science & technology. 48(15). pp. 8307-8320.
Bamberger, M. and Oswald, R. E., 2012. Impacts of gas drilling on human and animal health.
New solutions: a journal of environmental and occupational health policy. 22(1). pp.51-
77.
Dehghanpour, H. and et.al., 2013. Spontaneous imbibition of brine and oil in gas shales: effect of
water adsorption and resulting microfractures. Energy & Fuels. 27(6). pp.3039-3049.
Ghai, D. and Vivian, J. M., 2014. Grassroots environmental action: people's participation in
sustainable development. Routledge.
Hickenbottom, K. L. and et.al., 2013. Forward osmosis treatment of drilling mud and fracturing
wastewater from oil and gas operations. Desalination. 312. pp.60-66.
Kelland, M. A., 2014. Production chemicals for the oil and gas industry. CRC press.
Kharak, Y. K.and et.al., 2013. The energy-water nexus: potential groundwater-quality
degradation associated with production of shale gas. Procedia Earth and Planetary
Science. 7. pp.417-422.
Lehmann, J. and Joseph, S. eds., 2015. Biochar for environmental management: science,
technology and implementation. Routledge.
Michalski, R. and Ficek, A., 2016. Environmental pollution by chemical substances used in the
shale gas extraction—a review. Desalination and water treatment, 57(3), pp.1336-1343.
O'riordan, T., 2014. Environmental science for environmental management. Routledge.
Tissot, B. and Welte, D., 2012. Petroleum formation and occurrence: a new approach to oil and
gas exploration. Springer Science & Business Media.
Vidic, R. D. and et.al., 2013. Impact of shale gas development on regional water quality.
Science. 340(6134). p.1235009.
Welford, R., 2013. Hijacking environmentalism: Corporate responses to sustainable
development. Routledge.
Werner, A. K. and et.al., 2015. Environmental health impacts of unconventional natural gas
development: a review of the current strength of evidence. Science of The Total
Environment. 505. pp.1127-1141.
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Yusuf, Y. Y. and et.al., 2014. A relational study of supply chain agility, competitiveness and
business performance in the oil and gas industry. International Journal of Production
Economics. 147. pp.531-543.
Online
Environmental management in oil and gas upstream industry in UK. 2016. [Online]. Available
through: <http://www.icontrolpollution.com/articles/environmental-management-in-oil-
and-gas-upstreamindustry-in-UK-.php?aid=45300>. [Accessed on 8th August 2016].
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