As the development of oil and gas moves into deeper waters, new environmental issues and challenges present themselves to oil companies. The environmental issues arise for several different reasons including:Technologies used in shallow waters are no longer adequate for water depths over 1000 meters. As a result, the environmental consequences of some of the newer deepwater technologies are not well understood. This requires the standard impact assessments for drilling, subsea production systems and FPSOs (Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading) vessels to be revisited.The environmental setting in deep water is very different than in shallow water. The deep ocean is poorly understood in terms of physical properties and their importance. Also, hydrocarbon seeps and thermal vents provide habitat for newly discovered or poorly understood benthic organisms. Pelagic organisms, similar to those found in shallow waters, may have adaptive modifications for deeper waters. Therefore, impacts to the environment need to be considered relative to these organisms.Water depth and distance from the coast present challenges for discharge management and emergency response. The routine discharges associated with oil operations can be different in the deepwater environment in terms of quantities and mixing. Unintended releases, such as oil spills, can provide new challenges for emergency response. This paper provides a summary of the environmental issues and challenges identified during several deepwater projects, as well as issues identified and published by others world-wide. Ongoing research and proposed future research efforts are identified, where available. Introduction This paper identifies some of the environmental issues and challenges associated with deepwater developments. It is not, nor is it intended to be, an exhaustive analysis of all issues. Clearly, specific impacts will be a function of project design and the specific deepwater environment being affected. Some of the issues identified and evaluated herein for deepwater projects include:Drilling cuttings discharges;Operational discharges of new chemicals and compounds;Geohazards (slumping and turbidity currents for seabed slopes with gradients greater than 3%);The need for comprehensive baseline surveys and a good understanding of the ecosystem;Gas hydrate issues; andOil spill fate and behavior (for deep leaks or blowouts). New Technologies There are a myriad of new technologies that are being developed, tested and implemented by industry for deepwater exploration and production. In comparison to shallow water, there is limited experience in the industry for deepwater production. The new technologies that are emerging for deepwater encompass the areas of drilling and completions; subsea production, including subsea separation and pumping systems, manifolds, and flowlines; and larger and more self- sufficient FPSO facilities, including new riser technology. Drilling. Drilling technologies have continued to advance to allow for more efficient drilling in deepwater. However, the added depth has led to new environmental questions, including questions regarding the dispersion and fate of discharges of drill cuttings and associated drilling muds, as well as new chemicals and additives for enhanced drilling. Labelle 1998 identified some of the environmental concerns associated with deepwater development, including the storage, handling and discharge of chemicals and drilling muds. He called for research on the use of synthetic-based muds and the assessment of the dispersion and deposition of cuttings. Some of this research has begun and is ongoing.
HSE Horizons - This is a condensed version of paper SPE 73873, which was presented at the SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas E&P held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 20-22 March 2002.
Onshore seismic surveys may have visible impacts on the environment, especially in desert regions. In these areas, existing maps are often out-of-date, unavailable or inappropriate. The performance of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is such that these tools are increasingly useful in the planning of environmental baseline surveys, reporting of environmental data and monitoring of environmental impacts. TOTAL has developed and tested state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS technologies through the performance of several environmental baseline surveys for projects in North Africa. Very high resolution satellite data with a ground resolution of up to sixty centimeters was used. The trials indicate that the use of remote sensing and GIS is an efficient way to characterize environmental baseline conditions in remote areas when a limited timeframe is available.. Geospatial imagery is a cost-effective way to produce detailed baseline maps of sensitive areas highlighting wadis, cliffs, agriculture, foggaras, wetlands, tracks, towns and socio-economic activities. Accurate geospatial information helps to reduce costs by optimizing the time spent in the field and enhances the efficiency and quality of environmental studies. In addition, field photographs, observations, investigations and measurements can be directly integrated into GIS geodatabases. State-of-the-art methodologies and solutions for multi-date analysis enabling any change in the environment to be detected have been developed and tested; and now routine advanced remote sensing can accurately characterize the impacts of seismic surveys in arid and semi-arid environments. Objectives Geospatial imagery and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has many applications in the petroleum industry. The technologies for the observation of the earth from space and for digital mapping have evolved very quickly and new solutions that were previously expensive and complex to use are now used in a routine manner. The usefulness of geospatial imagery and GIS in the performance of environmental impact assessments in different environments and for all phases of exploration and production is already recognized. This paper presents how the use of satellite images can improve the efficiency of the performance of environmental impact assessments in desert regions, in particular in a context of seismic surveys. The example project presented in this paper is the post-seismic survey environmental impact audit carried out over 900 km2 of desert near the city of Timimoun. The audit was performed by a multidisciplinary team comprising experts from TOTAL, TTI Production and Sogreah Magelis. Work Area TOTAL has performed a number of seismic surveys in North Africa over the last few years. The satellite imagery acquired as part of these previous surveys provided important information which was used to plan the post-seismic survey environmental impact assessment and to identify possible environmental constraints to be considered in the planning of the field work.
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