Economic Impact and Risk Assessment of Sand and Dust Storms (SDS) on the Oil and Gas Industry in Kuwait

Abstract

There is a lack of published research on the economic effect and the risk associated with sand and dust storms (SDS) worldwide. The objectives of this study are to estimate the economic impact of SDS on the oil and gas industry in Kuwait, to estimate a risk index for each loss, and to recommend a sustainable system for the mitigation of the damaging effects and economic losses of infrastructures. Hot spots of wind erosion, wind corridors, and dust frequency and severity formed the basis to locate the most susceptible oil and gas fields and operations. Ten sectors with potential loss vulnerabilities were evaluated: exploration, drilling, production, gas, marine, soil remediation, project management, water handling, maintenance, and research and development. Sand encroachment, although not a sector per se, was also considered. The results indicate that sand, and to lesser extent dust, are damaging and costly to the oil and gas infrastructure of Kuwait, with an economic cost estimation of US$9.36 million, a total of 5159 nonproductive lost hours, and 347,310 m3 of annual sand removal. A risk assessment identified three sectors with the highest risk indices (RI): drilling (RI = 25), project management (RI = 20), and maintenance (RI = 16). Sand encroachment also constituted a high risk (RI = 25). Mitigation of sand storms using a hybrid biological–mechanical system was shown to be cost-effective with an equivalent saving of 4.6 years of sand encroachment. The hazard implications of sand storm events continue to be a major concern for policy-makers given their detrimental economic impacts, and require that government officials wisely allocate investment budgets to effectively control and mitigate their damaging effects.

The Impacts of Climate Change on Road Traffic Accidents in Saudi Arabia

“…This study also has found a positive and significant relationship between the FSTs and the rate of road accidents. Therefore, this study supports the findings of the majority of previous studies [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]85,86]. For example, Al-Hemoud et al [85] stated that sandstorm was a significant contributory factor to RTAs in Gulf Areas.…”

“…Therefore, this study supports the findings of the majority of previous studies [71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]85,86]. For example, Al-Hemoud et al [85] stated that sandstorm was a significant contributory factor to RTAs in Gulf Areas. Moreover, Maghrabi et al [87] conducted a study on the impact of dust on road accidents in Saudi Arabia in March 2009 and found extensive damage to vehicles and a high number of RTAs.…”

Sustainable Waste Management Drilling Process in Fuzzy Environment

“…(3) Set the values of the allowable deviations δ 1 and the allowable variation of the weight vector δ 2 (for Equations (11) and (12)), select the type of metric…”

“…Solve the problem of maximizing the objective function µ 0 (x) taking into account the constraints imposed in Equations (7) and (8), (9) and (10), and (11) and (12), determine the current solutions: x(β)-values of the control (regime) parameters, µ 0 (x(β)) criterion values; µ 1 (x(β)), . .…”

“…Modern advances in drilling fluids, chemical injections, and drilling waste disposal technologies allow the use of the most effective compositions of drilling fluids, chemical injections, and simultaneously with efficient removal of drill cuttings [11]. Unlike famous works [11,12], in this paper, standards and limitations when setting optimization tasks and sustainable waste management can be seen as limitations that can be fuzzy and limit the choice of technology.…”