natural gas and oil program national energy technology laboratory office of fossil energy oil and...

Natural Gas and Oil Program

National Energy Technology Laboratory

Office of Fossil Energy

Oil and Gas EnvironmentalEffective Environmental Protection

Interstate Oil and Gas Compact CommisionDate

GAO - Technology Area: Oil and Gas Environmental, 08/28/2007

Oil and Gas Environmental SolutionsFocus Areas: 1997 - 2002

Injection Wells Area of Review Variances

Waste Disposal Naturally Occurring Radioactive

Material (NORM) Synthetic Muds Salt Caverns

Air Quality Remediation

Environmentally Acceptable End-Points


Waste DisposalNaturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM)

Issue National attention to NORM caused environmental

and public safety concerns EPA proposed new rules to control Disposal costs were highAccomplishments Conducted exposure studies that demonstrated that

risks were low Developed model regulations for States Developed treatment and disposal technologiesBenefits• Provided guidelines to protect workers and the environment.• Reduced disposal costs by 50%• Avoided a national “one-size-fits-all” regulation


Soil RemediationEnvironmentally Acceptable End-points

Issues How Clean is “Clean”? Regulations based on detection limits Conventional remediation very costly

Accomplishments Determined bio-availability of common oil field contaminants Developed risk-based clean-up standards Developed standards for intrinsic bio-remediation Developed low-cost organic remediation technologies

Benefits• ‘Early Exit’ criteria adopted by EPA/States • Reduced clean-up costs by 60%


Air Quality

Issues Air quality models over-estimate effects of oil and

gas New “Visibility” standards based on incomplete

science Air quality Issues limiting production

Accomplishments Used air-sampling blimp to determine oil and

gas impacts Provided air chemistry studies to better predict

regional haze Provided air-chemistry study to demonstrate

permit limits in SE Wyoming not neededBenefits• Allowed 150% increase in wells in SE Wyoming • New modeling approaches adopted by EPA and western States


Oil and Gas Environmental SolutionsFocus Areas 2003 -2006

Federal Lands Access Technology Development Science-based Stipulations Air Quality Reduce Permitting Times

Produced Water Treatment Technologies Beneficial Use


Federal Lands AccessIssues

Complicated regulations and standards increase E&P costs and often delay permitting

Seasonal and spatial restrictions limit field development

Conflicts between land uses reduce acreage available for oil and gas production

About 40% of oil and gas resources on Federal lands is effectively off-limits

68% of all oil and gas reserves are on Federal Lands


Federal Lands Access NETL Approach

Provide technologies to lower the cost of compliance and improve protection

Provide sound science for decision-makers

Provide data-management and decision-making tools to speed permitting decisions


Joint DOE/BLM Projects in Rocky Mountains

Studies on Environmental Impacts• CBNG studies on water, vegetation, soils and erosion issues

(Ongoing)

Studies of wildlife breeding habits and land use• Effects of oil and gas on nesting raptors (Ongoing)• Sage grouse study used to determine impacts of natural gas

drilling activities in Wyoming (Completed 2005)

Benefits• Science based protection standards will ensure the wildlife,

water and soils are better protected without unnecessary costs


Environmentally Friendly Drilling SystemsTexas Engineering and Experiment Station

Goal Incorporate current and emerging clean

drilling technologies into a viable system for E&P and demonstrate the system to obtain no or low impact

Accomplishments Identified critical drilling rig parameters to

be the basis of platform design, access design and waste management operations

Benefits Will develop a suit of low impact

technologies and approaches that will allow drilling in sensitive environments without harming the environment

Pecos Research Testing Area

Anadarko Platform on the North Slope in 2005


Objectives Speed permitting of oil and gas development on Federal lands by: Providing on-line access to both resource data and environmental data Developing on-line permitting for Federal lands

Accomplishments Established data-sharing MOU between States and BLM Developed beta-test on-line permitting site for Colorado at http://oil-

gas.state.co.us Developed pilot program for electronic permitting for applications to drill

Benefits More and better data available for regulators and industry Reduced workload for regulators Faster, cheaper permits for industry

Improved Access to Federal Lands Through Interagency Data Sharing

Ground Water Protection Research Foundation


Distributed Generation Power Units at Marginal Oil Well Sites

IOGCCGoal • Demonstrate distributed generation using waste gas from oil

fields as a viable and environmentally clean solution to disposal, re-injection or abandonment of gas associated with oil production

Accomplishments• High-BTU and Medium-BTU projects both cost effectively

returned marginal fields to production using microturbines • The harsh-gas demo is bringing an oilfield back into

production by allowing compliance with air emission standards

• Ultra low-BTU demo is using new technology to burn previously incombustible gas

Benefits• Additional oil is being produced from marginal fields that

would otherwise be abandoned due to cost of compliance and operations. By turning a waste into a resource, both harmful air emissions and costs are reduced


Produced WaterIssues

> 15 billion barrels of water is produced with oil and gas each year

Quality varies from low (hydrocarbons, salt, dissolved solids, etc) to very high

Costs are high to treat or dispose Surface discharge affects soils, vegetation, and streams Coal Bed Natural Gas Production (CBNG) is being limited

because of produced water concerns


Produced Water NETL Approach

• Development of new water treatment technologies • Determine impacts of CBNG produced water impacts.• Provide sound science for regulatory decisions

• Benefits include: Improved environmental protection Lower operational cost of oil and gas production Provides water resource in semi-arid regions Provides wildlife and recreational benefits to the public


Advanced Membrane Filtration Technology for Cost Effective Recovery of Fresh Water from Oil & Gas

Produced BrineTexas Engineering Experiment Station

Goal • Develop portable reverse osmosis

membrane filtration technology for produced water

Accomplishments• The desalination technology has

been commercialized through GeoPure Water Technologies.

• System installed at a location in Benbrook, Texas, is processing over 200 gallons per minute of feed water

Benefits• Reduces disposal costs by 75%

• Provides fresh water for land owner (possible source of revenue)


Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Reconnaissance to Improve Produced Water Management in the

Powder River BasinNETLGoal

Determine movement and environmental impact of impoundment water

Accomplishments First time measurement of water

migration from impoundments Developed and demonstrated

computer analysis tool to optimize impoundment locations

Benefits Reduced costs Reduced ground water impacts


Treating Produced Water for Beneficial Use with Synthesized Zeolite Membranes New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology

Goal • Create new, non-fouling zeolite membranes to efficiently treat high-TDS produced water for beneficial useAccomplishments• Synthesized high aluminum ZSM-5 membranes with enhanced water flux and ion rejection for concentrated solutions• An in-line oxidative regeneration process was developed for organic fouling removal; found that 90 percent of water flux can be recoveredBenefits High efficiency membranes with low maintenance costs will allow economic treatment of up to 2 million bbls of water/yr and make it available for use in the semi- arid west

Film of inter-grown crystals

Pore dia. ~ 0.55 nm

Cross-section


Summary Where We Were: 1997 - 2002

Waste disposal technologies and regulations were costly and not well developed

Many remediation regulations were based on incomplete data and were not risk-based

Produced water treatment costs were high and very little produced water was put to beneficial use

Access to resources on Federal lands was slow and uncertain - restrictions were not science-based


Summary Where We Are: 2007

Waste disposal technologies protect the environment and cost less

Most remediation regulations are risk-based and are based on sound data

Produced water treatment makes beneficial uses economic in some areas

Access to resources on Federal lands has increased and many stipulations are being reviewed based on research results


Summary Where We Are: 2007 (Continued)

More unconventional resources are being targeted with a corresponding increase in environmental concerns

New challenges are arising each year

More land use conflicts are occurring due to the increased drilling activity especially in western states.

Environmental protection will be one of the biggest factors in oil shale development


Summary Where We Can Go: 2007+

Complete new-generation membranes to reduce costs and increase available water

Continue to provide environmental science for environmentally sound development of Federal lands

Develop lower impact technologies to reduce or eliminate lasting environmental impacts

Provide technology and science to minimize the environmental impact of oil shale development


Questions?

natural gas and oil program national energy technology laboratory office of fossil energy oil and...

Documents

gas productionabout

natural gas

gas reserves

gas resources

cleanup costs

reduced disposal costs

ep costs

intrinsic bioremediation