Reducing the complexity of environmental approvals: learnings from an industry-wide collaborative effort

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Matthew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Intractable Problems ◽  
Intractable Problem ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

This extended abstract uses the reference case project, initiated by National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, now led by National Energy Resources Australia, to delve into the underlying issues in the environmental approvals process and propose the root causes that have influenced this flagship collaborative effort. Collaboration for competitors is inherently difficult. The basis for meaningful collaboration is to find intractable problems that are better solved by a collection of participants with a common purpose. The environmental approvals process has evolved into an intractable problem that is adversely affecting the oil and gas industry’s ability to explore by becoming a barrier to investment and a source of uncertainty in project execution. Successive Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conferences, and oil and gas industry leaders, have frequently promoted the collaboration imperative to the industry. Indeed, there is broad agreement, and many international examples on matters of health, safety and environmental management, that there is no value in competition. Why then is meaningful collaboration so difficult to deliver in an environmental management setting in Australia? This paper explores the successes and failures of the reference case project to illuminate the realities of collaboration in the Australian offshore petroleum industry. The paper shares insights from project leads, participants, decision makers and stakeholders and covers how collaboration can unlock barriers to investment and deliver greater certainty to the oil and gas industry and the Australian community.

scholarly journals Environmental management in small and medium-sized enterprises of oil and gas industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
pp. 012021
Author(s):  
T Sheydai ◽  
O Nykyforuk ◽  
U Berezhnytska ◽  
I Melnychuk ◽  
I Mandryk
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry

Applied Mechanics Problems in the Oil and Gas Industry

1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1687-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Roegiers
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Production Equipment ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Well Production ◽  
Current Research Activity

The petroleum industry offers a broad spectrum of problems that falls within the domain of expertise of mechanical engineers. These problems range from the design of well production equipment to the evaluation of formation responses to production and stimulation. This paper briefly describes various aspects and related difficulties with which the oil industry has to deal, from the time the well is spudded until the field is abandoned. It attempts to delineate the problems, to outline the approaches presently used, and to discuss areas where additional research is needed. Areas of current research activity also are described; whenever appropriate, typical or pertinent case histories are used to illustrate a point.

A Comprehensive Review of the Fourth Industrial Revolution IR 4.0 in Oil and Gas Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cenk Temizel ◽  
Celal Hakan Canbaz ◽  
Hakki Aydin ◽  
Bahar F. Hosgor ◽  
Deniz Yagmur Kayhan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Use

Abstract Digital transformation is one of the most discussed themes across the globe. The disruptive potential arising from the joint deployment of IoT, robotics, AI and other advanced technologies is projected to be over $300 trillion over the next decade. With the advances and implementation of these technologies, they have become more widely-used in all aspects of oil and gas industry in several processes. Yet, as it is a relatively new area in petroleum industry with promising features, the industry overall is still trying to adapt to IR 4.0. This paper examines the value that Industry 4.0 brings to the oil and gas upstream industry. It delineates key Industry 4.0 solutions and analyzes their impact within this segment. A comprehensive literature review has been carried out to investigate the IR 4.0 concept's development from the beginning, the technologies it utilizes, types of technologies transferred from other industries with a longer history of use, robustness and applicability of these methods in oil and gas industry under current conditions and the incremental benefits they provide depending on the type of the field are addressed. Real field applications are illustrated with applications indifferent parts of the world with challenges, advantages and drawbacks discussed and summarized that lead to conclusions on the criteria of application of machine learning technologies.

Is Australia Prepared for the Decommissioning Challenge? A Regulator's Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Christensen ◽  
Andrew Re
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Regulatory Reform ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Independent Expert ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

Abstract The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is Australia's independent expert regulator for health and safety, structural (well) integrity and environmental management for all offshore oil and gas operations and greenhouse gas storage activities in Australian waters, and in coastal waters where regulatory powers and functions have been conferred. The Australian offshore petroleum industry has been in operation since the early 1960s and currently has approximately 57 platforms, 11 floating facilities, 3,500km of pipelines and 1000 wells in operation. Many offshore facilities are now approaching the end of their operational lives and it is estimated that over the next 50 years decommissioning of this infrastructure will cost more than US$40.5 billion. Decommissioning is a normal and inevitable stage in the lifetime of an offshore petroleum project that should be planned from the outset and matured throughout the life of operations. While only a few facilities have been decommissioned in Australian waters, most of Australia's offshore infrastructure is now more than 20 years old and entering a phase where they require extra attention and close maintenance prior to decommissioning. When the NOGA group of companies entered liquidation in 2020 and the Australian Government took control of decommissioning the Laminaria and Corallina field development it became evident that there were some fundamental gaps in relation to decommissioning in the Australian offshore petroleum industry. There are two key focus areas that require attention. Firstly, regulatory reform including policy change and modification to regulatory practice. Secondly, the development of visible and robust decommissioning plans by Industry titleholders. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance and benefit of adopting good practice when planning for decommissioning throughout the life cycle of a petroleum project. Whilst not insurmountable, the closing of these gaps will ensure that Australia is well placed to deal with the decommissioning challenge facing the industry in the next 50 years.

scholarly journals Proper Use of Technical Standards in Offshore Petroleum Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Brkić ◽  
Pavel Praks
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
European Economic Area ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
The North ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

Ships for drilling need to operate in the territorial waters of many different countries which can have different technical standards and procedures. For example, the European Union and European Economic Area EU/EEA product safety directives exclude from their scope drilling ships and related equipment onboard. On the other hand, the EU/EEA offshore safety directive requires the application of all the best technical standards that are used worldwide in the oil and gas industry. Consequently, it is not easy to select the most appropriate technical standards that increase the overall level of safety and environmental protection whilst avoiding the costs of additional certifications. We will show how some technical standards and procedures, which are recognized worldwide by the petroleum industry, can be accepted by various standardization bodies, and how they can fulfil the essential health and safety requirements of certain directives. Emphasis will be placed on the prevention of fire and explosion, on the safe use of equipment under pressure, and on the protection of personnel who work with machinery. Additionally considered is how the proper use of adequate procedures available at the time would have prevented three large scale offshore petroleum accidents: the Macondo Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; the Montara in the Timor Sea in 2009; the Piper Alpha in the North Sea in 1988.

BIOCHEMICAL AND CHEMICAL PARAMETERS FOR AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM HEALTH ASSESSMENTS ADAPTED TO THE AUSTRALIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 584 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Gagnon ◽  
K. Grice ◽  
R.I. Kagi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Health ◽  
Biochemical Markers ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Chemical Markers ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Chemical Measurements ◽  
The Impact

Field assessments using biochemical and chemical markers in marine organisms will be necessary to provide the Australian Petroleum Industry with a realistic evaluation of the impact of their activities on the marine environment. In field investigations, wild or caged animals are sacrificed and their organs are collected in order to assess if industrial activities do have a significant adverse impact on the organisms' health. Biochemical markers of chronic exposure to contamination may include reversible effects such as induction of a detoxification system, or permanent effects such as damage to nuclear DN A. Studies of sentinel species using biochemical markers of exposure, complemented by chemical analyses provide a realistic holistic method for assessment of environmental health. This multidisciplinary approach has proven valuable in Europe and North America.This paper outlines the need for biochemical and chemical markers to assess environmental health in a dynamic milieu such as the North West Shelf of Australia. Selected biochemical markers for use by the oil and gas industry in field monitoring of ecological health, and the complementary chemical measurements focussed on persistent contaminants such as poly eye lie aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are described. The biological and ecotoxicological significance of the biochemical markers applied in sentinel marine organisms is reviewed, and some limitations regarding their interpretation are stated. It is suggested that biochemical monitoring of the environment complemented with sophisticated chemical measurements can provide environmental managers working within the oil and gas industry with a system for ecotoxicological monitoring programs in offshore Australia.

Revisiting the FPSO São Mateus Accident From a Human Reliability Perspective Using Phoenix HRA Methodology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilia A. Ramos ◽  
Alex Almeida ◽  
Marcelo R. Martins
Keyword(s):  
Human Error ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Risk Estimation ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Human Reliability ◽  
Human Reliability Analysis ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Gas Industry

Abstract Several incidents in the offshore oil and gas industry have human errors among core events in incident sequence. Nonetheless, human error probabilities are frequently neglected by offshore risk estimation. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) allows human failures to be assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the petroleum industry, HRA is usually applied using generic methods developed for other types of operation. Yet, those may not sufficiently represent the particularities of the oil and gas industry. Phoenix is a model-based HRA method, designed to address limitations of other HRA methods. Its qualitative framework consists of three layers of analysis composed by a Crew Response Tree, a human response model, and a causal model. This paper applies a version of Phoenix, the Phoenix for Petroleum Refining Operations (Phoenix-PRO), to perform a qualitative assessment of human errors in the CDSM explosion. The CDSM was a FPSO designed to produce natural gas and oil to Petrobras in Brazil. On 2015 an explosion occurred leading to nine fatalities. Analyses of this accident have indicated a strong contribution of human errors. In addition to the application of the method, this paper discusses its suitability for offshore operations HRA analyses.

scholarly journals Multiphase Flow Effects in a Horizontal Oil and Gas Separator

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Frank ◽  
Robin Kamenicky ◽  
Dimitris Drikakis ◽  
Lee Thomas ◽  
Hans Ledin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Fluid Mixture ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Liquid Phases ◽  
Industry Applications ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
Gas Separator ◽  
Flow Effects

An oil and gas separator is a device used in the petroleum industry to separate a fluid mixture into its gaseous and liquid phases. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study aiming to identify key design features for optimising the performance of the device, is presented. A multiphase turbulent model is employed to simulate the flow through the separator and identify flow patterns that can impinge on or improve its performance. To verify our assumptions, we consider three different geometries. Recommendations for the design of more cost- and energy-effective separators, are provided. The results are also relevant to broader oil and gas industry applications, as well as applications involving stratified flows through channels.

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