Safety, Health and Social and Environmental Impact Assessment for CO2-EOR Project - Case Study Example

Safety, health and social and environmental impact assessment for CO2-EOR project Several stages of production are usually encountered during the life of field of oil production. When the field is initially brought to production, the flow of oil to the surface is natural because of the existing in the reservoir during the primary phase. With time, the reservoir pressure drops and this calls for the injection of water in order to boost the pressure which in turn causes the displacement of oil during the secondary phase. The remaining oil can then be recovered using different means such as injection of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) phase. EOR is generally a technique which is applied for the purpose of increasing the quantity of the crude oil that is extracted from a field of oil. Greater percentages of the original oil in a reservoir are usually extracted using EOR as compared to the recovery in the primary and secondary phases. For proper control of the project is required to prevent damaging to the sources of drinking water and generally addressing the environmental risks and potential safety associated with the CO2- EOR project (Meyer 2008). Safety and health assessment In order to prevent accidents, safety is required to be managed in a systematic way by introducing clear and simpler requirements which are easier for the people to follow and understand. The personal safety in the CO2-EOR project will ensure that the people will adhere to the rules and work safely. Process safety is concerned with the facilities and involves making sure the facilities are designed well, are operated safely and are properly maintained. The possible impacts to safety and health during the CO2- EOR project include death and accidental injuries to workers and public such as bursting of pipelines or collision with flammable fluid facilities. Human may also be affected by air emissions, water contamination and dust. Health and safety management and planning is should demonstrate that a structured and systematic approach to the management of health and safety must be adopted and controls for risk reduction are in place and the staff is effectively trained and maintenance of equipment is in safe condition. The design of facilities should be in a manner that the risk of an accident or the potential of an injury is reduced or eliminated and should consider the prevailing conditions on the environment and the location of the site with inclusion of the potential natural hazards extreme like earthquakes. The facilities should be provided with a minimum of specialised providers of first aid and also a means of provision of remote patient care that is short term. The provision of an onsite medical unit and professional needs should be considered depending on the complexity of the facility and the number of the current personnel. Seismic monitoring is applied in monitoring any seismic activity in the project such as activity resulting from CO2 injection. The project is in the tertiary phase since the prolonged operations in the field, the seismic hazards in the project area tend to increase because the resources have been exhausted. Due to the weight of the complex for production, the layers of the rocks that are on top can cave in. This may lead to serious consequences on the environment and also loss of lives. This will also result into further shockwaves dispersion and the probabilities of earthquakes. To ensure safety, monitoring of chemical and physical changes in CO2 storage using seismic methods is essential (PTRC 2010). Drilling operations in the project will result to drilling wastes that consist of rock fragments, mud, cuttings and chemicals added in order to improve the properties of mud. The fluids involved in drilling include oil and water based fluids containing additives such as lubrication and seal off additives. Other wastes associated with drilling are tank bottoms, oily soil, pigging waste, sump and pit waste, work over fluids, oily cuttings and condensate water for dehydration. The chemicals associated with drilling waste include nickel, mercury, phenols, chromates, lead, copper and suspended and spilled chemicals. These chemicals results to hazardous wastes which when release to the environment results to contamination of water sources and marine life. Drilling involves removal of vegetation and top soil that lead to loss of habitat, increased potential for soil erosion and reduction in diversity of plants (TEEIC 2010). Presence of hydrocarbons in oil industries is one source of flammable fluids. For explosion to occur there must be some ignition such failure in electricity. Explosion occurs where there is a flammable material in quantities that are ignitable, presence of air in form of oxygen and a source of ignition. Well blowouts are the common locations where explosion occur. For the purpose of safety, signs should always be posted in striking locations in order to inform the workers and public about any situation that may seem dangerous such high voltage and flammable conditions. The location of fired vessels should not be adjacent to oil or other explosive or flammable storage facilities and their maintenance should be sufficient (API Recommended Practice 51R 2009). The fire explosions in the project are mostly in the upstream oil industry. This is because of the presence of hydrocarbons such a fuel and also the presence of oxygen in air. Addition of an ignition source will then make the conditions for the combustion. Fires in this company can be caused by accidentally releasing hydrocarbons in the working area, presence of flammable substances which usual in this industry, wide range of conditions where there is introduction of oxygen with or without the knowledge of the workers and the availability of various sources of ignition such as electricity. Increased understanding and awareness of what results to fires leads to reduced injuries to human and financial losses that are caused by fire. Safety in this project can be improved by creation of solutions that are effective for the reduction explosions and upstream fires which depends on development of a better and clear understanding of possible ignition, fuel and oxygen sources and conduction f effective and ongoing assessments for the current operational circumstances in every situation and the barriers which are required to address them (University of Calgary 2010). Pipelines for transportation are either through land or marine. The operation in the pipelines is internally and externally monitored for any leak detection and corrosion. Carbon dioxide transportation pipeline passing through populated areas requires lowest specified content of hydrogen sulphide. Relative humidity is maintained at low values to maintain the dryness of CO2 since it does not cause corrosion when dry. Transportation of CO2 in densely populated areas raises the number of people who are exposed to the risks that are potential from CO2 storage and capture facilities. The leakage of CO2 from pipelines creates potential physiological hazards to people and animals. Carbon dioxide incidents can be assessed and modelled on site specific basis by use of industrial methods that are standard while taking into consideration the population density, local topography, meteorological conditions and other conditions. CO2 is transported in liquid, gas and solid states. The transportation of CO2 involves use of pipelines, ships and tanks for liquid and gaseous carbon dioxide. Very large facilities are required to transport CO2 in gas state as it occupies large volume at atmospheric pressure. When compressed it occupies less volume allowing transportation by pipeline. Further reduction is accomplished by solidification, liquefaction and hydration. The most established means CO2 bulk transportation is a pipeline which is the most currently used technology. Other bulk transportation means of CO2 transportation is by ship and small quantities by rail and truck. Fugitive emissions associated with CO2 transportation result from pipeline seals, breaks and valves, intermediate facilities of storage and compressor stations, low temperature transportation of liquefied CO2 by ship and facilities used for loading and offloading of the ship. The CO2 injection system at the injection site contains surface facilities such as the storage facilities, pipeline distribution to the wells, control and measurement systems, additional facilities for compression, injection wells and wellheads. The potential risk in these facilities is the leakage of carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere. To prevent this, flow rate, pressure and temperature of the injection fluid is measured at the wellheads and safety features are available to prevent blowout of the fluids injected. For backflow prevention in case of failure of equipment at the surface, safety features at the tubing such as downhole valve are installed. Comprehensive monitoring of wells is required for safety against the leakage of CO2. Monitoring of CO2 amount that is injected to geological formation needs to be assessed before it is enters into the injection well (Singleton 2002). Carbon dioxide processing system consists of a carbon capture system which is meant for capturing, transporting and storage of the emissions of CO2. The atmospheric emissions of CO2 and the related greenhouse gases are great contributors of global warming. The carbon emissions are very common in the CO2-EOR projects which cause some effects on human, animals and plants. To ensure safety in the environment, the technology of carbon capture system is employed in gas and oil industries for prevention of CO2 entrance into the atmosphere. This is achieved by gas capturing using large sources of combustion, purification and pressurizing it then it is injected into the underground for isolation between the environment and the atmosphere (Benson 2006). CO2 is contained in a geologic storage system in the operational and insitu subsystems. Operational subsystem consists of transportation, capture and injection components and the insitu subsystem contains CO2 exiting from the injection well and is out of control by human. The risks associated to large and slow release to the surface and migration of CO2 within the geologic formation. The possibility of CO2 large release from the storage facilities or reservoir can be controlled by adequate selection, operation and monitoring of the site. Slow release of CO2 in populated areas results to increase in occurrence of harmful exposure to CO2 concentrated levels. These concentrations lead to the release of CO2 slowly through fractures and faults by penetration into the injection zone or migration pathways resulting from injection wells that are poorly sealed. Slow leaks are posses a great risk as they diffuse into the atmosphere without being noticed. The movement within the geological formations leads to the leaching effects and CO2 loss in the formations causing exposure to hazards such as contamination of groundwater (Heinrich, Herzog & Reiner 2003). Environmental impacts assessment Exploration is very essential in this project as it will determine the project stability. Seismic explorations entails emission of sound waves in the ground, making records on their reflections and finally construction of subsurface geology to present a clear image of geology of the subsurface. Injection of large volumes of fluids will lead to increase in the pressure in reservoirs and displacement of other fluids which results to seismic events. Construction and development of structures for the oil production will lead to several impacts such as destruction of the habitat such as wildlife disturbance from human activities and noise, exposing of the biota to various contaminants and also interfering with the activities of marine life such as breeding places. Measures taken to reduce the significance of the associated risks include understanding the storage reservoirs geotechnical properties, careful sitting, use of proper design requirements and guidelines and proper placing of pipelines and wells. Impacts of seismic surveying should be minimised by considering the following; seismic activities should be minimised In planning seismic surveys, the following should be minimised in the local population environments where possible, simultaneous operations on the survey lines that are closely spaced should be minimised, use the lowest possible practicable values of vibrator power levels, identify the time periods and areas that are sensitive to wildlife including breeding and feeding locations and if possible avoid them and if there is sensitive species in the project area, monitor their behaviour and presence to allow management of the seismic program (TEEIC 2010). Pipelines in the CO2- EOR project will cause impacts on land use, air quality, fish and wildlife, soil fertility and archaeological and historical sources and social- economic. These include loss of land productivity, contamination of water bodies leading to death of marine and surface and groundwater quality through emissions, and bursting of pipes. Mitigation measures on water quality are proper disposal of substances such as solids from construction activities, implementation of a plan including wastewater treatment before disposal. Measures on land use involve acquiring of land on agreements with owners, compensation on loss of crops and land productivity due to pipeline activities. Mitigation measures on wildlife and marine life include selection of pipeline alternative routes to avoid breeding points and forests and controlling water pollution such as oil spills to enhance natural production of fish (Alam et al. 2010). Drilling operation results impacts include noise and contamination of water sources due to cuttings and chemicals associated with drilling activities. Drilling fluid has high potential of contamination of groundwater through leaching and surface water by discharge of the untreated wastes. This affects the human health as well as marine life. In order to mitigate these impacts drill cuttings has been in road spreading after assessing their hydrocarbon moisture, salinity and clay content. Other mitigation measures for drilling fluids disposal and treatment include injecting the mixture of fluid and cuttings to special disposal well, storing in dedicated tanks before treatment, recycling and disposal, using onsite treatment to make them non-hazardous before disposal and recycling the fluids that are spent back to the providers in order for them to treat and re-use (IFC 2007). The impacts associated with process plant are accidents due to natural, technological and technical factors. Most causes of accidents in the plant are due to failure of the equipment, personnel mistakes and extreme impacts that are considered natural such as seismic activities and hurricanes. Their hazards are associated with oil blowout; oil spills gases and other chemical substances and compounds. The measures for control and prevention of facilities include conducting risk assessments on spill for facilities and drilling systems to reduce major spill risks, ensuring installation of corrosion prevention and control systems in process equipment, pipelines and tanks, installation of containment tanks to contain any accidental release, ensuring there is sufficient training for prevention and response to accidents. Other measures on fires in the plant include prevention of ignition sources that are potential, introduction of combination of both manual and automatic systems of fire alarm and avoiding atmospheres that seem explosive in confined spaces. Storing impacts result from geological storage of CO2. The risks that come from CO2 geological storage leads to consequences of CO2 unintended leakage in the storage formation. Unintended leakage results from two scenarios. The first one is leakage from a well which is either from an injection well or a nearby improperly sealed well. The risks associated with this case are usually confined to smaller areas, pose a risk to the one in the close vicinity and contains high influx. The second scenario is unintended risk from fractures and faults which were not properly identified or characterised during the selection of the site. The surface release in this case occurs in a larger area but contains lower influx and may cause little or no risk to the surrounding population. There is a possibility of the combination of the two scenarios where one scenario leakage is converted t the other as CO2 approaches the land surface. The risks associated to storage are due to damages caused by activities which are unrelated such as excavation and farming. The processes that contribute to leakage after carbon dioxide injection include water, gas or oil displacement by CO2, CO2 migration through rock pore spaces, the storage formation build up of pressure caused by CO2 injection, geochemical reactions that occur between the formation and CO2 which dissolve CO2 in water or even converting the CO2 into minerals. This leads to deformation of overlying rocks due to pressure causing accidents and water contamination, change in fractures and faults, state of stress resulting to sealing characteristics encouragement of seismic activities. The mitigation measures in leakage are sealing of the well but only after identification of the problem, stopping of leakage in fractures and faults may be lengthy and difficult to accomplish but a better approach for mitigation is monitoring the movement of CO2 in the underground for detection of leakage before it reaches the surface. This will ensure that there is early warning of leakage occurrence in order to implement methods such as reducing the injection pressure or to stop project. Fugitive emissions in CO2- EOR oil production result from CO2 capture transportation and storage and also emissions from activities of waste gas disposal and non- combustible sources. The sources of fugitive emissions related to the activities of oil production include process venting, losses in evaporation, fugitive leaks in equipment, waste gas streams disposal and equipment failure and accidents. Gas migration towards the surface is caused the leaks in the string of production or movement of material from one zone to the other. Picard (2008) states that other sources of fugitive emissions in oil production include solid waste disposal to the land and CFCs leakages from components of electricity. Release of H2s in the EOR operations in the environment has resulted to impacts to human such as cases of deaths. Flaring of methane as natural gas may occur during well testing, oil production, well leaks, oil processing and maintenance operations of pipeline. Methane is considered a major greenhouse gas and leakage of CO2 results to development of coal bed methane. The pollution of air and production of gas in this project will lead to effects on human such as reduction in visibility. Presence of methane that seeps in drinking water leads to health hazards. Methods of fugitive emissions reduction and control needs to be considered and should be implemented during the operation, design and maintenance of facilities. The appropriate valves, seals, fittings, flanges selection needs to consider the suitability and safety requirements and also their capacity for reduction of fugitive emissions and gas leaks. There should be implementation of repair and leak detection programs. During the testing wells, avoid flaring of hydrocarbons produced especially near the sensitive areas to the environment and local communities. The alternatives that may prove feasible needs to be evaluated in order to recover hydrocarbon test fluids with the consideration of safety handling of hydrocarbons that are volatile in order to transfer to disposal units (IFC 2007). Social impact assessment The social impacts are generally the consequences to individuals, communities or human populations which come up from the project. The assessment of impacts in a CO2- EOR project is very essential because it changes the way people relate or live in relation to the project. The social impacts cover the following social life features; population, employment, economic conditions, education, health, cultural life and resources, political processes and institutions and the quality and the values of life Pandora (Snethkamp & Macklin 2004). The process of the social impact assessment of the CO2-EOR project will involve scoping through the consultations with the affected population in order to have clear identification of boundaries of the project. The stakeholders must be representative as they are essential in identification of social issues. Some of the stakeholders involved in this project involve the community, environmental management authorities, government ministries related to the project and others. The social issues that will be encountered in this project include resettlement where the people displaced during the project needs to be resettled, employment where the project is expected to create employment opportunities and bring changes to the economic activities that are existing, demographics or changes in the composition and the size of the existing population as people migrate to search for work in the project area and also social economics as there will be potential impacts on goods and services on the local market with inclusion of housing created by the project. Others issues are social infrastructure such as adequacy of transportation, health care, water and power for supporting the project, cultural property where the project causes impacts that are potential on structures and sites with historical, aesthetic or archaeological significance and finally, the project impacts on resources such as land and water use for project facilities (Lilien & Anwar 2008). After the stake holders assess the impacts, several procedures are developed in order to mitigate or avoid the negative social impacts which are approved by the relevant environmental management authorities. The CO2- EOR company management will develop the implementation plan which will be liable for monitoring by the relevant bodies to ensure that the company adheres to implementation process (Pollet & Wyness 2006). The assessment of social impacts will be of benefit to all the parties involved as it will reduce the effects on the individuals, human populations and communities, it increases the success of the project as stakeholders will be comfortable in the control of the impacts on the community and the environment, improves the economic performance as costs related to delay and control action are identified and avoided, establishes trust as the relationship between the company and the community is improved and it also it establishes baseline in which social environmental changes against predictions are measured (Jones et al. 2006) Produced fluids During the process of oil production, water, oil and CO2 are removed from reservoir by means of production wells during the field’s productive life. One of the CO2 mitigation strategies is storage in reservoirs that are secure such as underground storage. The storage technique involves active capture of the CO2 emissions then they are stored in underground geologic reservoirs which includes aquifers, depleted gas and oil fields and deep coal beds. The injection of the CO2 into the underground formation serves two purposes which are: enhancing hydrocarbon production and for the storage purposes. In this process, H2s is first separated then recovered and the liquid carbon dioxide is taken back to the formation to enhance the production of oil. Due to high costs in the transportation, production, injecting and processing CO2, the EOR operations aim at making oil production rate maximum while minimizing the amount of CO2 required in order to achieve the results that are required. The projects on CO2-EOR operations are optimized in a manual way by making alternations between the carbon dioxide and the injection of water in a water-alternating-gas process abbreviated as WAG. This process is performed with the purpose of overcoming the high mobility of carbon dioxide in the formation which reduces the carbon dioxide flooding effectiveness greatly. The mobility is caused by low viscosity and density of carbon dioxide as compared to the reservoir oil. Water used for recovery of crude oil is stored on surface or underground reservoirs then it is re-used for further enhanced oil recovery. This water may also be treated and distributed for power plant use which is a suitable environmental alternative the closing of the carbon dioxide- water loop between the power and oil production industries (Heinrich 2000). Oil recovered from the carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery technique proves to be of a significant amount. After recovery, the crude oil is stored for shipment to various locations or for processing to obtain finished products. Some of the tanks used for storage of oil include floating and fixed roof tanks. The transportation of oil is by tankers or by pipeline. Pipelines have proven to be the most efficient and effective methods for crude oil and refined products transportation. They are employed in movement of crude oil from wellhead to a gathering point then to the processing facilities. Crude oil is then transported from facilities meant for processing to refineries facilities and tanker loading facilities. The collection of crude oil is made from field gathering systems which contains pipelines meant for movement of oil from towards the tanks used for storage and then to treatment facilities. During this process, oil is tested and measured. Crude oil from gathering system is then distributed to a pump station. Pipeline contains a variety of delivery points throughout the route. The purpose of booster pumps along the pipeline is for pressure maintenance and ensuring the oil is flowing. The points of delivery are either the place where oil is processed to finished products or the terminals for shipping where there is loading of oil into tankers. The tankers transport the crude oil from oil production fields to the various refineries around the world (PetroStrategies, Inc. 2000).  Carbon dioxide large scale commercial market in these days is caused by increasing demand from oil industry production for enhanced oil recovery technology. The EOR and the beverage industries are consistent potential purchasers of carbon dioxide gas. EOR project’s initiative is to prevent and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide from reaching to the atmosphere. Through this initiative, the industry will be able to store more carbon dioxide gas into the underground reservoirs. The industry can sell some of the carbon dioxide gas to other industries in need of the gas in their operations. This will allow the company to generate a significant amount of revenue as a result of sale of part of carbon dioxide gas. References Alam, JB, Ahmed, AA & Munna, GM 2010, Environmental impact assessment of oil and gas sector: A case study of Magurchara gas field, Bangladesh. API Recommended Practice 51R 2009, Environmental Protection for Onshore Oil and Gas Production Operations and Leases Benson, SM 2006, Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage: Assessment of Risks from Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Deep Underground Geological Formations, Earth Sciences Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Heinrich, JJ, Herzog, HJ & Reiner, DM 2003, Environmental Assessment of Geologic Storage of Co2 . . Laboratory for Energy and the Environment Massachusetts Institute of Technology Heinrich, J 2000, Managing Environmental and Human Safety Risks Associated with Geologic Storage of CO2, Kansas State University IFC 2007, Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines. Onshore Oil and Gas dvpt. PetroStrategies, Inc. 2000, Oil Transportation, viewed 26 October 2011http://www.petrostrategies.org/Learning_Center/oil_transportation.htm Jones, MG, Jan, JH & Richard, M 2006, Social Impact Assessment - New Dimensions in Project planning. Sykes Shell International Exploration & Production B.V., Society of Petroleum Engineering. Lilien, J & Anwar, D 2008, Implementing the Social Dimension of ESHIA at Chevron. Chevron Corporation, Society of Petroleum Engineers Meyer, JP 2008, Summary of Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO2EOR) Injection Well Technology, American Petroleum Institute Petroleum technology research centre, PTRC 2010, IEA GHG Weyburn CO2 monitoring & storage project. Orchard business centre, Stoke Orchard. Picard, D 2008, Fugitive Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Activities: Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Pollet, E & Wyness, RA 2006, Impact assessment and mitigation for a large pipeline project. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Intl. Finance Corp. Singleton, GR 2002, Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide: Risk Analyses and Implications for Public Acceptance, University of Virginia Snethkamp, P & Macklin, S 2004, Key questions in managing social issues in oil and gas products, Society of Petroleum Engineers Tribal energy and environmental information (TEEIC) 2010,Environmental resources for tribal energy development. Office if Indian energy and economic development. University of Calgary 2010, Fires and explosions in the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry, viewed 26 October 2011, http://www.firesandexplosions.ca/hazards/index.php Read More