Page 9 - Environmental Control in Petroleum Engineering

Preface

With the rise of the environmental protection movement, the
petroleum industry has placed greater emphasis on minimizing the
environmental impact of its operations. Improved environmental
protection requires better education and training of industry personnel.
There is a tremendous amount of valuable information available on
the environmental impact of petroleum operations and on ways to
minimize that impact; however, this information is scattered among
thousands of books, reports, and papers, making it difficult for industry
personnel to obtain specific information on controlling the environ-
mental effects of particular operations. This book assembles a sub-
stantial portion of this information into a single reference.
The book has been organized and written for a target audience
having little or no training in the environmental issues facing the
petroleum industry. The first chapter provides a brief overview of these
issues. The second chapter focuses on the various aspects of drilling
and production operations, while the third chapter discusses the
specific impacts associated with them. Chapter 4 discusses ways in
which toxic materials can be transported away from their release sites.
(Actual waste transport modeling is a very complex topic and
is beyond the scope of this book.) The fifth chapter presents ways
to plan and manage activities that minimize or eliminate potential
environmental impacts without severely disrupting operations.
The sixth chapter discusses the treatment of drilling and production
wastes to reduce their toxicity and/or volume before ultimate disposal.
Chapter 7 presents disposal methods for various petroleum industry
wastes. The final chapter reviews available technologies for remediat-
ing sites contaminated with petroleum wastes. A summary of major
United States federal regulations, a list of major U.S. chemical waste
exchanges, and discussions of sensitive habitats and offshore releases
of oil are provided in the appendixes.
This book has evolved from course notes developed by the author
for use in undergraduate and graduate classes. In preparing the book,
the author has read thousands of pages of papers, reports, manuals,