S-049 - Water and Waste Management
Water and waste management is a specific cost and environmental footprint issue throughout the life cycle of upstream, midstream and downstream Oil & Gas projects. Properly managing the water needed for drilling and completion operations, the produced water in upstream projects, and the water used in refining and petrochemical plants, as well as the associated waste pose an increasing operational, economic and environmental challenge to operators, having to adhere to strict regulations that are often changing over time.
Large volumes of water are required for drilling and completion operations, notably in unconventional plays. This may compete with domestic, agricultural and/or industrial usage, causing stress on supplies. In addition, public concern about pollution cause plans to be challenged in court and may cause project delays or even cancellation. Operators may find themselves confronted with millions of dollars in treatment and disposal costs, schedule delays, production impairment, and public concerns about the environmental impact threatening their license to operate. Companies are therefore looking for environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways to dispose of the water and waste.
Proper sourcing, treatment and disposal of water and waste needs to be addressed from the start of a project, as an early water and waste management strategy can save money in the longer run. Triple EEE Management Support has the Subject Matter Experts to help you address this and come up with tailor-made solutions to your water/energy nexus problems (i.e. the relationship between the water used for oil and gas production, and the energy consumed to extract, treat/purify, transport and dispose of water and waste).
- Investigate alternative options for water access, e.g. surface water, (saline) aquifers via designated water wells, local sewage water, sea water etc.
- Look at ways to reduce the water transportation and storage footprint and minimize water usage by re-use or by innovative solutions, in cooperation with local communities
- Assessment of HSE risks (e.g. trucking, spill/leak), recommending prevention and mitigation measures
- Assist planning of baseline monitoring programs that may be necessary before the start of operation.
- Water separation from hydrocarbons, oil-based mud and other pollutants
- Oil-based mud management
- Evaluate available recycling technologies, including green solutions, e.g. reed beds
- Waste treatment according to local regulations at designated facilities
- Evaluate HSE aspects (e.g. H2S and other contaminants; transport safety risk mitigation)
- Recycled waste water for oil and gas field use, e.g. pad construction, cementing, drilling fluids, completion fluids
- Desiccation (i.e. evaporation or water distillation)
- Injection into available salt-water aquifers via designated re-injection wells (aka absorption wells)
- Re-injection into producing formations to enhance oil recovery
- Surface discharge after appropriate treatment (i.e. re-used waste water could potentially be used for irrigation and treated sludge as fertilizer)
- Support operational water and soil quality monitoring programs and environmental protection plans
Triple EEE’s complementary services are, for example:
- Environmental impact and risk assessment, e.g. footprint study, sustainability strategy
- Legislatory/regulatory compliance
- Legacy and liability analysis
- Asset reference planning
- Radiation Subject Matter Expertise, e.g. NORM
- Value Assurance Reviews, to ensure impacts, risks and opportunities are adequately represented in project resourcing, costs and schedule
- Operational excellence
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