Meeting the Challenges of Waste Disposal in the Mainland of Russia – Successful Design and Implementation of the First Full-Scale Drilling Waste Injection Project in Western Siberia

Abstract

The South part of the Priobskoe field, located in Western Siberia on a flood land of the Irtysh River, is an environmentally sensitive area. Zero discharge regulations prohibit cuttings discharge and spills of liquid wastes on the surface. Until now, the exploration and full development of such oil and gas fields was a major challenge for operating companies working in Russia as all drilling wastes including cuttings, used muds ready for disposal, and waste waters which cannot be disposed in this sensitive area. Drilling wastes had to be transported away from the region to areas where waste disposal pits were allowed to be constructed and wastes to be stored. The major hurdle for the drilling campaign is the cost of transportation of the vast amount of drilling waste generated from multiple rigs. Moreover, during spring or fall, such transportation is virtually impossible because of the absence of winter roads and rivers are impassable due to flooding or ice movement. A joint effort between a major oil company in Russian and a waste management service company selected Waste Injection (WI) technology as the most efficient, economical and environmentally friendly way to handle the drilling waste in the field. Waste Injection is a relatively new waste disposal methodology used in Russia, although the first injection job on a worldwide basis was in 1991. The first Russian WI operation was successfully implemented in 2004 on offshore projects near Sakhalin Island. Since that time and until October 2008, WI had only been used on several offshore platforms. The need of a robust technology for waste management on the South Priobskoe field was the departure point for implementing WI in mainland Russia. The following paper describes the steps taken to implement WI on land projects in Russia as the technology that allows for zero discharge, ensuring a safe and permanent drilling waste disposal performed under strict regulations and minimizing associated transportation and cost risks. Waste Injection Assurance Most of the oil companies in Russia wanted to implement WI on the mainland but were concerned about legislation issues as this type of operation had never been done on Russian land jobs. In October 2008, the first steps towards making WI operations a reality in Russia began with the development of a feasibility study or Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study for waste injection in the area, as part of the assurance process.

Deep Underground Injection of Waste from Drilling Activities—An Overview

“…The slurrification unit is the second part of the slurry preparation and disposal unit, and it consists of a coarse tank (for mixing and blending of waste with water by specially designed centrifugal pumps); a classification shaker and grinder (for separation of particles based on their size and additional grinding of particles that are too large) and a fines tank (for final conditioning of the slurry by adding additional water and additives (corrosion inhibitors, biocide and friction reducers) in order to assure the desired slurry properties and quality control). The third part of the slurry preparation and disposal unit is an injection system consisting of a holding tank (for holding the prepared waste slurry), injection pumps and a system for data acquisition and monitoring of the injection process [49][50][51]. Although the slurry waste is traditionally injected by a positive displacement plunger or piston/liner-type triplex mud pumps, new laboratory research and a field trial conducted by Newman et al [34] indicate that multistage centrifugal pumps could be advantageous in some situations.…”

“…Although the slurry waste is traditionally injected by a positive displacement plunger or piston/liner-type triplex mud pumps, new laboratory research and a field trial conducted by Newman et al [34] indicate that multistage centrifugal pumps could be advantageous in some situations. In some situations, as in the case of oil and gas exploration and production waste injection in polar regions, it is necessary to heat up the waste slurry preparation water because of frozen waste material in the reservoir pits [41] or to apply winterized measures for the entire unit to assure a minimal internal temperature of 17 °C [50,52].…”

“…In Figure 2, the waste slurry and disposal unit are shown in detail, as well as all options for adequate deep underground disposal [53]. In some situations, as in the case of oil and gas exploration and production waste injection in polar regions, it is necessary to heat up the waste slurry preparation water because of frozen waste material in the reservoir pits [41] or to apply winterized measures for the entire unit to assure a minimal internal temperature of 17 • C [50,52].…”

Using biochemical agents to intensify the treatment of highly concentrated drilling wastewater

“…Как показал анализ имеющихся публикаций [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], помимо захоронения в амбарах, существует ряд физических и физико-химических методов утилизации отходов бурения. Однако они требуют значительных энергетических и эксплуатационных затрат.…”