Impact of oil on the marine environment: Policy of the Paris commission on operational discharges from the offshore industry

Environmental impacts occur at all stages of oil and gas production. They are the result of prospecting activities, of the physical impact due to the installation of rigs, of the operational discharges when production starts and of accidental spills. The input of oil to the North Sea due to the offshore industry has been estimated at 29% of the total input of oil. The operational discharges consist of production water and drilling cuttings. An overview of statistics collected over the last 10 years shows that although the amount of oil discharged via production water is increasing as platforms are getting older, cuttings still account for 75% of the oil entering the sea as a result of normal operations. Spills represent a relatively small source of oil. The effects on the marine environment of discharges of production water and of discarded oily cuttings have been extensively studied, by national authorities as well as by the industry. Although it has not always been possible to reach consensus about the significance of the observed effects, a number of ‘agreed facts’ have led to establishment of regulations in the framework of the Paris Commission. The ‘decisions’ and ‘recommendations’ adopted by the Commission are regularly reviewed in the light of new developments.     

海洋石油平台的工程地震问题

对于海洋石油平台,结构抗震设计要求提供地震动峰值、反应谱、持续时间以及速度时程等参数,由于海洋石油平台的结构和形式的特殊性,以及海域地震环境特征,考虑海洋石油平台地震动作用时要有不同的方法及侧重点,本文对海洋石油平台地震作用分析中涉及的一些工程地震问题研究进行了讨论,包括设防地震动水准、设定地震、地震动衰减关系、长周期地震动及其相关问题。     

关于编制海洋油气调查标准的几点思考

海洋油气地球物理调查的标准制定非常重要,这是促进海洋地球物理产业化的重要标志与进程.既是对技术事项制定技术标准,也是对海洋地球物理采集、处理及解释建立统一的事项管理标准,同时也是协调工作过程、提高质量及效率而制定的工作标准.需要注意的是:(1)海陆油气勘探采用的方法体系不同,不能盲目套用.(2)海陆地球物理的采集的设备、采集工作方式、资料处理的方式都是不同的,分别属于两种不同范畴,应该区别对待.建议相关职能部门尽快出台海洋油气地球物理调查的标准,确保海洋油气调查工作有序进行,保障国家的权益落实到位.     

Risk assessment of offshore oil and gas activities in the Netherlands

Offshore oil and gas activities may lead to a conflict between the protection of the marine environment and health and safety aspects. Priority given to the protection of the marine environment may have an impact on the health or safety of the people working offshore and/or the integrity of the offshore installation. Previous health and safety protection measures are now known to create large-scale effects on the environment, e.g. the application of polychlorinated biphenyls as a cooling medium in transformers and the application of the ozone-depleting halons for efficient fire protection. Risk assessment, taking all health and safety aspects into account, may be the primary mechanism to justify operational procedures agreed by the national authorities as well as by the Exploration and Production industry. Risk assessment of health and safety aspects uses several models which are applied when designing new offshore installations. Several models, which have been developed in the last couple of years, are now available for the assessment of the environmental risk. This paper considers the need for the application of risk assessment with respect to all aspects, health, safety and environment, in order to determine a balanced set of priorities and protection measures.     

Holistic environmental assessment and offshore oil field exploration and production

According to UK Government surveys, concern for the environment is growing. Environmental regulation of the industry is becoming wider in its scope and tougher in its implementation. Various techniques are available to assess how the industry can drive down its environmental impact and comply with environmental regulation. Environmental Assessments (EA) required by European law do not cover the whole life cycle of the project that they are analysing. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was developed to assess the environmental loadings of a product, process or activity over its entire life cycle. It was the first technique used in environmental analysis that adopted what was described as a holistic approach. It fails this approach by not assessing accidental emissions or environmental impacts other than those that are direct. Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) offers the opportunity to value environmental effects and appraise a project on the basis of costs and benefits. Not all environmental effects can be valued and of those that can there is considerable uncertainty in their valuation and occurrence. CBA cannot satisfactorily measure the total environmental risk of a project. Consequently there is a need for a technique that overcomes the failures of project-level EA, LCA and CBA, and assesses total environmental risk. Many organizations such as, the British Medical Association, the European Oilfield Speciality Chemicals Association, the Royal Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (Norway) and Shell Expro now recognize that a holistic approach is an integral part of assessing total risk. The Brent SPAR case study highlights the interdisciplinary nature required of any environmental analysis. Holistic Environmental Assessment is recommended as such an environmental analysis.     

Simulated oil spills at two offshore fields in the Arabian gulf

A computer simulation program of oil spills in the Arabian Gulf, GULFSLIK II, is developed and applied to two offshore fields. The results of the simulation are examined to ascertain the risks to the neighboring coastal areas.     

Seabirds at risk around offshore oil platforms in the north-west Atlantic

Seabirds aggregate around oil drilling platforms and rigs in above average numbers due to night lighting, flaring, food and other visual cues. Bird mortality has been documented due to impact on the structure, oiling and incineration by the flare. The environmental circumstances for offshore hydrocarbon development in North-west Atlantic are unique because of the harsh climate, cold waters and because enormous seabird concentrations inhabit and move through the Grand Banks in autumn (storm-petrels, Oceanodroma spp), winter (dovekies, Alle alle, murres, Uria spp), spring and summer (shearwaters, Puffinus spp). Many species are planktivorous and attracted to artificial light sources. Most of the seabirds in the region are long-distance migrants, and hydrocarbon development in the North-west Atlantic could affect both regional and global breeding populations. Regulators need to take responsibility for these circumstances. It is essential to implement comprehensive, independent arm's length monitoring of potential avian impacts of offshore hydrocarbon platforms in the North-west Atlantic. This should include quantifying and determining the nature, timing and extent of bird mortality caused by these structures. Based on existing evidence of potential impacts of offshore hydrocarbon platforms on seabirds, it is difficult to understand why this has not been and is not being, systematically implemented.     

Projection and detection of climate change impact on fatigue damage of offshore floating structures operating in three offshore oil fields of the North Sea

Ocean Dynamics - Fatigue damage of offshore floating structures is a long-term cumulative process, which is mainly attributed to ocean waves. The natural variability and human-induced climate...     

Effects of sheens associated with offshore oil and gas development on the feather microstructure of pelagic seabirds

Operational discharges of hydrocarbons from maritime activities can have major cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems. Small quantities of oil (i.e., 10 ml) results in often lethally reduced thermoregulation in seabirds. Thin sheens of oil and drilling fluids form around offshore petroleum production structures from currently permissible operational discharges of hydrocarbons. Methodology was developed to measure feather microstructure impacts (amalgamation index or AI) associated with sheen exposure. We collected feather samples from two common North Atlantic species of seabirds; Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Dovekies (Alle alle). Impacts were compared after feather exposure to crude oil and synthetic lubricant sheens of varying thicknesses. Feather weight and microstructure changed significantly for both species after exposure to thin sheens of crude oil and synthetic drilling fluids. Thus, seabirds may be impacted by thin sheens forming around offshore petroleum production facilities from discharged produced water containing currently admissible concentrations of hydrocarbons.     

Geodynamic aspects of the development of offshore oil and gas deposits: Case study of Barents region

Geodynamic aspects of the development of offshore deposits in the Russian sector of Barents region are considered. The main technogenic geohazards at oil hydrocarbon extraction are shown to be land subsidence and earthquakes. A concept of studying geodynamic manifestations is substantiated. This concept is based on the evolution of oil-and-gas-producing enterprise with appropriate portion of geological environment, regarded as a complex open natural-engineering system. The geodynamic situation at the Shtokman gas-condensate field was simulated using a mathematical model. The model showed some regularities in the deformation of the fluid-bearing massif because of gas extraction, including the up to 30% volumetric compaction of the production strata, resulting in a regression deflection (subsidence) of seabed and considerable subhorizontal deformations and displacements of bottom rock beds. The specific features of gas pipeline laying from the Shtokman field through Murmansk province are discussed, and the structure of geodynamic monitoring is proposed. Substantiation is given to the need to carry out special geodynamic studies in the Barents region with the aim to ensure operation geosafety and stability of structures of oil-and-gas facilities and pipeline transportation of hydrocarbons materials.     

不同抗震标准下的海洋石油平台设计地震动参数研究

在海洋石油平台抗震标准方面,中国与美国规范之间存在一定的差异。本文首先介绍了两国抗震规范中的相关内容。以渤海某油田为例,根据渤海及邻区的地震构造、地震活动环境及地震动衰减关系,利用概率方法进行地震危险性分析;采用一维等效线性化方法,根据场地土动力性能试验资料,确定不同抗震标准下的设计地震动参数。最后分析不同抗震标准下的地震动参数关系,以及对工程设计的影响。结合我国渤海与美国南加利福尼亚地区的地震活动性对比分析,对我国海洋石油平台的设防地震水准提出建议。     

An international comparison of governmental disclosure of hydrocarbon spills from offshore oil and gas installations

The cumulative effect of accidental spills from oil and gas extraction in the marine environment can have significant impacts on marine wildlife. Oil and gas operators are typically required to report spill data as part of a regulatory process. We conducted a survey of the public disclosure of hydrocarbon spill data for four countries, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. There was significant variation in the spill data statistics that were publicly reported by the regulators. No country provided full disclosure of spill data or follow-up actions taken by the regulator on their website. The lack of disclosure of spill data is of concern because the scale of environmental effects is more difficult to assess, insufficient information is available to assess the accuracy of predictions made in the environmental assessment process, and without consistency of spill reporting there is no method to compare regional differences of spill rates.     

Semi-supervised least squares support vector machine algorithm: application to offshore oil reservoir

At the early stages of deep-water oil exploration and development, fewer and further apart wells are drilled than in onshore oilfields. Supervised least squares support vector machine algorithms are used to predict the reservoir parameters but the prediction accuracy is low. We combined the least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) algorithm with semi-supervised learning and established a semi-supervised regression model, which we call the semi-supervised least squares support vector machine (SLSSVM) model. The iterative matrix inversion is also introduced to improve the training ability and training time of the model. We use the UCI data to test the generalization of a semi-supervised and a supervised LSSVM models. The test results suggest that the generalization performance of the LSSVM model greatly improves and with decreasing training samples the generalization performance is better. Moreover, for small-sample models, the SLSSVM method has higher precision than the semi-supervised K-nearest neighbor (SKNN) method. The new semisupervised LSSVM algorithm was used to predict the distribution of porosity and sandstone in the Jingzhou study area.     

光纤Bragg光栅在油气工业中的若干应用及进展

简要介绍光纤Bragg光栅的基本原理、传感检测系统的构成,以及利用光纤Bragg光栅进行温度、应变同时测量区分技术.光纤光栅作为新一代传感元器件,越来越受到广大油气工业用户的青睐.本文主要讨论光纤Bragg光栅在油气工业中的若干应用,并对存在问题和应用前景进行了展望.     

The effect of an oil drilling operation on the trace metal concentrations in offshore bottom sediments of the Campos Basin oil field,SE Brazil

The concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Cr, Ba, V, Sn and As in offshore bottom sediments from the Bacia de Campos oil field, SE Brazil, were measured at the beginning and at 7 months after completion of the drilling operation. Concentrations of Al, Fe, Ba, Cr, Ni and Zn were significantly higher closer to the drilling site compared to stations far from the site. Average concentrations of Al, Cu, and in particular of Ni, were significantly higher at the end of the drilling operation than at the beginning. Comparison between drilling area sediments with control sediments of the continental platform, however, showed no significant difference in trace metal concentrations. Under the operation conditions of this drilling event, the results show that while changes in some trace metal concentrations do occur during drilling operations, they are not significantly large to be distinguished from natural variability of the local background concentrations.     

海底地震仪数据处理方法及其在海洋油气资源探测中的发展趋势

海底地震仪(Ocean Bottom Seismograph,OBS)技术是近年发展起来的主要用于海洋地震监测、海底结构调查和海洋油气资源勘探的地球物理技术,其发展前景与OBS仪器本身的发展及OBS数据处理技术的进展息息相关.目前,OBS数据处理主要采用广角地震测深数据处理方法,辅以天然地震层析成像技术,并最终反演深部速度结构.本文简要概括了OBS的发展历程;并以2010年和2011年渤海海陆联测中两条OBS测线的实际数据处理以及部分学者在OBS数据处理中所取得的进展为实例详细介绍了OBS数据处理流程中的频谱分析及其应用,环境噪音分析,增益、带通滤波和反褶积等常规处理,时间校正,震相拾取及反演处理;对OBS在海洋油气资源探测中的应用情况和发展趋势进行了讨论.通过频谱分析发现气枪信号优势频带范围为3～15Hz,OBS垂直分量近偏移距频谱能客观反映OBS与海底的耦合情况;通过噪音分析发现OBS记录的噪音强度与水深和偏移距成反比,并与海底沉积环境密切相关.OBS数据处理方法与平台建设任重道远,也是OBS技术更早进入油气资源探测领域的关键环节之一,应进行深入研究.