Summary
In the United States, most exploration and production (E&P) wastes
generated at onshore oil and gas wells—contaminated soils, naturally occurring
radioactive material (NORM), oil-based muds and cuttings, produced water, tank
bottoms, and water-based muds and cuttings—are disposed of or otherwise managed
at the well site. Some of these E&P wastes, however, are not suitable for
onsite management, and some well locations in sensitive environments cannot be
used for onsite management. In these situations, operators must find offsite
waste-disposal solutions. Responding to this need, offsite commercial disposal
facilities are businesses that charge a fee for accepting and managing E&P
wastes generated by others.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), the authors of this paper
assembled a unique set of data covering options, methods, and costs for offsite
disposal of E&P wastes in the United States (Puder and Veil 2006a). Data
were collected for more than 200 disposal facilities. This paper describes the
project and the findings, which were published in September 2006.
Issue Definition
In the United States, most of the 18 billion barrels (bbl) of produced
water, 149 million bbl of drilling wastes, and 21 million bbl of associated
wastes generated at onshore oil and gas wells are disposed of or otherwise
managed at the well site (API 2000). However, under certain conditions,
operators will seek offsite management options for their E&P wastes,
including contaminated soils, NORM, oil-based muds and cuttings, produced
water, tank bottoms, and water-based muds and cuttings.
Some types of E&P wastes—saltwater muds and very oily cuttings—are not
suitable for onsite management. In other cases, the environmental sensitivity
of a particular location (for example, marshy environments and tundra)
precludes onsite waste-management operations. In the offshore arena, those
E&P wastes that cannot be discharged from the platform are generally hauled
back to shore for disposal, especially when underground injection at the
platform is not a common regional practice. Another reason for selecting
commercial waste management facilities involves cost effectiveness. If an
operator generates a relatively small volume of E&P waste, it may make
sense to send it offsite rather than constructing, operating, and closing an
onsite facility. Finally, some operators simply prefer sending their E&P
waste to a third party. However, in the light of the specter of potential
liability under the U.S. Superfund law, it is crucial to review the business
practices and compliance histories of offsite commercial disposal
companies.
Offsite commercial disposal companies offer waste management and disposal,
transportation, cleaning of vehicles and tanks, disposal of wash water, and, in
some cases, laboratory analysis. The suite of commercially available waste
management methods and technologies include bioremediation, burial, salt
cavern, discharge, evaporation, injection, land application, recycling, thermal
treatment, and treatment.
Since the 1990s (Veil 1997), no comprehensive survey of offsite commercial
disposal of E&P wastes has been made available to the public. In the light
of the lack of recent national data and literature, the USDOE funded a
systematic and up-to-date study of offsite commercial disposal options,
methods, and costs. The data were collected from summer 2005 through spring
2006. In the first phase, state oil and gas regulatory officials in 31 states
were contacted to find out whether their agency maintained a list of permitted
commercial disposal companies dedicated to the offsite management of E&P
wastes. In the second stage, individual representatives of commercial disposal
companies were interviewed to collect information covering disposal methods and
costs.
© 2007. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
2 January 2007
- Meeting paper published:
5 March 2007
- Revised manuscript received:
27 June 2007
- Manuscript approved:
24 August 2007
- Version of record:
20 December 2007
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