The City and State where it located
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development
Oil and gas industries are a collection of three different sets of industries where each one represents a particular stage in the life of oil and gas production and distribution. They are classified as the 1. Upstream 2. Midstream and 3. Downstream industries. The three stages that each of them represents include the 1. Exploration and production stage (upstream) 2. Transportation stage (midstream) and 3. Distribution stage (downstream). Whenever an environmental impact assessment is made on oil and gas industries it is imperative that we consider each of these them individually. This is because of the different range of threats that they pose to the environment. For instance, upstream industry has been identified as a major player in atmospheric pollution while midstream industry is usually known for aquatic pollution caused by oil spills and pipeline leakages .
Even in the light of these facts, it is believed that, with the adoption of several sustainable practices and careful purification processes, these industries can, in practice, avoid major events of air, water, and soil pollution. Many of such sustainable practices have already been implemented and successfully demonstrated by the downstream industry (in refineries). Due to the vastness of data available in each category of pollution (air, water and soil), for simplicity, this essay shall be taking specific interest in the analysis of various forms of atmospheric (or air) pollution caused by these industries and thereby find a possible remedy and alternate sustainable practice to mitigate these issues.
Role of Oil and Gas Industries in Atmospheric Pollution
Before laying out best practices to limit the causes of atmospheric emissions in each of these industries, it is imperative that we make a brief analysis of the various threats that they pose first. Upstream industries, also known as E&P industries, are responsible for the exploration and production of oil and gas. There are numerous processes involved in their exploration and production. A very few of them are 1. Seismic Survey 2. Exploratory Drilling 3. Appraisal 4. Development and Production 5. Decommissioning and Restoration . One of the problems inherent with these processes is their extensive use of machinery that runs on fossil fuels. The combustion process involved in these diesel engines is a big menace to the atmosphere as they release large quantities of carbon dioxide and potentially harmful carbon monoxide into the air. But expert analysis has suggested that this doesn’t stop there. The power and heat involved in the operation of these machinery are so high that they cause the combustion (oxidation) of atmospheric nitrogen to produce oxides of nitrogen (some of them are greenhouse gases) and release them into the atmosphere.
But the major player in causing atmospheric pollution in the upstream industry is the flaring and venting process. Flaring and venting processes are used in upstream industries routinely during emergency or shutdown conditions . They involve the controlled burning of natural gas or oil (flaring) and their subsequent release (venting) into the atmosphere. This is done in upstream industries where there are no viable storage options available excess oil and associated gas. In such cases, to avoid serious damage or explosion, the excess oil and gas are released into the atmosphere after combustion or sometimes directly into air . The reality is that the amount of gas and oil that is flared or vented is either at the company’s dispose or according to available government regulations. Depending on the toxicity of the gases involved or the content of hydrocarbons contained in the produce, the company chooses either of the two (flaring and venting) options.
As upstream industries are responsible for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, heavy machineries are required in this stage. Use of machinery such as compressors, pumps, and reciprocating engines to keep the flow of oil and gas from the reservoir up to the collection space are essential at this point. But these machines are a source of large greenhouse emissions and release of particulate matter into the atmosphere. This is one menace that the upstream industry simply cannot avoid. As long as the oil and gas exploration sustains, the use of these machinery cannot be avoided. But there are many ways to limit emissions from these machineries. They will be discussed later into the essay.
The last menace in this category is the fugitive emissions. The guidebook published by European Environment Agency has a detailed description of all the fugitive emissions caused by the petroleum industry. The emissions caused by various processes associated with these industries such as 1. Vacuum Distillation 2. Catalytic Cracking 3. Thermal Cracking 4. Sweetening and 5. Blowdown systems have been separately covered in this guidebook . But the main issue with the fugitive emissions is in our inability to measure their accurate amount. And for this simple reason the atmospheric hazards caused by them could be even more than the flaring and venting processes for a particular upstream industry but may never be detected during impact assessments.
The environmental threats posed by midstream industries are generally attributed to the extensive use of fossil fuels that they need to aid transportation. But even severe environmental impacts are caused during pipeline explosion or oil spills. The atmospheric pollution that they often cause is due to the greenhouse emissions such as methane gas (main component of natural gas) and carbon dioxide that they release into the air during leakages or as fugitive emissions. But these natural emissions can be easily controlled and limited by promptly keeping the safety and standards of the transportation equipments used in this section. In addition to them another major concern raised by this industry is accidents such as explosion or spills. Various other sources of greenhouse emissions in midstream sectors are 1. Compressor engine exhausts 2. Oil and Condensate tank vents 3. Natural gas processing and 4. Fugitive emissions .
Downstream industries are the last sector in the lifecycle of oil and gas industries. They are responsible for refining crude oil and purification of raw natural gas. One of the many air pollutants that they release into the atmosphere is the BTEX compounds (Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and Xylene) . Release of air pollutants such as suspended particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, etc has also been recorded by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of them have been reported to be carcinogenic. To conclude, various sources of these air pollutants in oil refineries are 1. Equipment leaks 2. High temperature combustion processes 3. Heating of process fluids and 4. Transfer of products. There are many processes that cause direct release of contaminant gaseous or solid pollutants into the air in refineries such as 1. Catalytic Cracking units 2. Coking units 3. Catalytic reforming units 4. Sulphur recovery vents 5. Asphalt blowing stills .
Measures to Limit the Impacts of Oil and Gas Industries
All or most of these environmental impacts are avoidable to a great extend. With the help of modern technology experts have identified numerous methods by which the release of a great variety of pollutants into the atmosphere can be avoided. For example, the release of particulate matter into the atmosphere can be avoided by using methods such as cyclone filters, bag filters, electrostatic precipitators, scrubbers, etc. Wet scrubber is generally used to avoid the release of acidic substances into air such as sulphur which could result in acid rain if combined with rain water. There are a lot of other viable technologies that can be used to limit the release of air pollutants into the air. Let’s discover them.
In upstream industry, the major contributor to atmospheric pollution is the flaring and venting process. The truth is that this method was implemented at a time when fossil fuels were believed to be abundant. Global warming and air pollution was not a concern at that time and age. The main reason for flaring and venting of gas in modern time is considered to be the lack of regulations on that front. The “preemptive rights”, that gives the host government rights to associated-gas, prevents the contractor from selling them. But some developed countries have made provisions for the contractors to use associated-gas for their energy requirements. But even then, associated-gas is usually excluded from right to sale. This deters the contractor from building infrastructure to keep excess gas (associated-gas) to be later distributed and sold to customers . By giving the contractors right to sell the excess gas we can limit the amount of oil and gas products that are wasted by flaring and venting. Additional regulatory practices such as limiting the duration of flaring (and venting) and checking the volume of gas that are flared (or vented) are other viable practices to limit such wastefulness.
Other sources of pollution in the upstream industry are the different stages in exploration and production of oil and gas. Use of TMT based explosives for the seismic survey of the area (to discover potential oil reservoirs) are a major source of greenhouse gases and oxides of sulphur. The high temperature of these explosions causes the atmospheric nitrogen to burn and produce oxides of nitrogen. These unwanted releases can be avoided by using thumper trucks or non-TMT based explosives for seismic survey.
The air contaminants released by midstream industries are rather small compared to the upstream and downstream industries. The reasons for such pollution, if any, are incidental and due to uncontrollable causes. The most viable solution to mitigate these atmospheric impacts are by ensuring that the equipments used for storage and transport of oil and gas are of perfect working condition and up to required standards . Some of the suggestions include the use of an advanced storage option where a leak in the tank does not cause the gas or oil to be released into the air or ground directly. This can help avoid occurrences of explosions that are even more menacing than the direct release of contaminants into the air. But soil and water pollution caused by the midstream industries are tremendous. But as they are beyond the scope of this essay, they are not discussed further.
The downstream industries that include the refining and purification processes of oil and natural gas are the next biggest source of air contamination after upstream industry. The white paper published by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has listed many methods via which we can improve the efficiency of machinery used in refineries. Such methods can easily limit the amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and carbm monoxide released into air. For example, in refineries, to meet the steam requirements for various purification processes, boilers are used. These boilers are needed to be heated up for some time before steam can be generated. The control systems used for their heating can be automated to reduce the time required for their heating up. Such improvements can reduce the emissions during boiler standby mode up to 85% . Another viable method is to implement a maintenance plan to check steam traps in the boiler. Malfunctioning steam traps can cause larger emissions during boiler operations. There are other possible BAT (Best Available Technology) practices that could help the industry improve their energy efficiency as well as to limit their emissions. Some of them are 1. The use of solvent scrubbing (such as monoethanolamine (MEA) to capture carbon dioxide in exhaust streams has been recorded to have controlled greenhouse gas emissions to a great extend. 2. During the exploration and production of oil and gas, if the compressor section is given a dry seal instead of wet seal emissions can be reduced up to 6% . 3. Flare gas recovery system can be used in recovering flare gas that can be used later in the fuel gas system. 4. Oxygen monitors and air intake monitors can be used to limit the excess air taken into process heaters. By avoiding excess oxygen in the heaters, greenhouse gases can be limited by about 1-3%.
After careful analysis of all available data in the field of sustainable exploration, production and distribution of oil and gas, it is clear that the environmental concerns related to oil and gas industries can be completely eradicated with the adoption of appropriate and best available technology (BAT) in this field. The need for strict regulations is also apparent from this survey. Resource wasting practices, such as flaring and venting, need to be regulated with strict government directives and policies. It is also recommended that host governments should encourage and subsidize research programs whose sole purpose shall be to discover other BATs (Best Available Technology) for oil and gas production and purification. Host governments should also encourage and aid oil and gas industries to improve on their existing technology as well as upgrade their equipments to meet the modern environment friendly standards. The government should make it mandatory for these industries to keep a strict monitoring scheme to measure the affluent pollutants and contaminants. Such practices can help the world get over their fear of oil and gas industries and identify their true potential which can motivate them to further increase their reliability.
References
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