The history and future of North Sea oil and gas: an environmental perspective

The history of the development of the hydrocarbon resources of the North Sea is reviewed in an environmental context. The development of impact assessment techniques and practices and the evolution of monitoring of the physical, chemical and biological environment offshore and onshore, with reference to platforms, subsea pipelines, pipeline landfalls and terminal construction and operation is discussed. A brief account of the development of environmental protection management practices and their application to the design, construction, operation and management of major production projects follows. The paper concludes with a look at the environmental conditions likely to be established as the industry moves into the northern North Sea and areas such as the West Shetland Basin, and their significance for the petroleum industry.

Clay Minerals ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Pearson

AbstractClay mineral abundances in Mesozoic and Tertiary argillaceous strata from 15 exploration wells in the Inner and Outer Moray Firth, Viking Graben and East Shetland Basins of the northern North Sea have been determined in <0·2 µm fractions of cuttings samples. The clay assemblages of more deeply-buried samples cannot be unambiguously related to sedimentary input because of the diagenetic overprint which may account for much of the chlorite and related interstratified minerals. Other sediments, discussed on a regional basis and related to the geological history of the basins, are interpreted in terms of clay mineral provenance and control by climate, tectonic and volcanic activity. The distribution of illite-smectite can often be related to volcanic activity both in the Forties area during the M. Jurassic, and on the NE Atlantic continental margin during the U. Cretaceous-Early Tertiary which affected the North Sea more widely and left a prominent record in the Viking Graben and East Shetland Basin. Kaolinite associated with lignite-bearing sediments in the Outer Moray Firth Basin was probably derived by alteration of volcanic material in lagoonal or deltaic environments. Some U. Jurassic and L. Cretaceous sediments of the Inner Moray Basin are rich in illite-smectite, the origin of which is not clear.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. petgeo2019-132
Author(s):  
Marco Ludovico-Marques

The Lourinhã Formation in the western region of Portugal is an analogue for the Statfjord Formation in the oil and gas fields of the Norwegian Northern North Sea. This petrophysics study encompasses a specific sandstone variety (M variety) of the Lourinhã Formation. This lithic arkose shows an average value of effective porosity of 18.5% and a permeability range of 20–30 mD, and is representative of the distribution range in the petrophysics models of the reservoirs of the Statfjord Formation. The petrographical, physical and mechanical characterization of the M variety sandstone is compared with the main features of the oil- and gas-producing sandstones of the Statfjord Formation in a reference well in the Norwegian Northern North Sea. Efficient enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects in the oil and gas fields of the Norwegian Gullfaks hub are always needed, and this study intends to provide a contribution to that endeavour.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy King

AbstractWith a history spanning over 50 years, the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) is one of the most explored and mature basins in the world. Over 44 Bbbl of reserves have been recovered from over 450 fields across the UKCS, enabled by continuous improvement in seismic, drilling and development technologies. Starting in 1965 with BP's West Sole discovery in the Southern Gas Basin, every sector of the UKCS has since opened up. But it is not just the discoveries that have characterized this ultra-mature region. It has weathered a turbulent history of oil prices, fiscal changes, an ever-changing corporate environment and the industry's worst offshore disaster, which serves as a reminder of the uncompromising conditions of the North Sea.Production peaked at the turn of the millennium, and it is only since 2013 that there has been a partial reversal of the declining trend. With discoveries getting scarcer and smaller, maintaining the trend will not be easy, especially with the number of companies exiting the region for more prospective global opportunities on the rise. However, with an estimated 10–20 Bbbl yet to find in the basin, there is still a lot to play for in the coming years.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1067-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Colman ◽  
Erika J. Palin ◽  
Michael G. Sanderson ◽  
Robert T. Harrison ◽  
Ian M. Leggett

Abstract The height of waves at North Sea oil and gas installations is an important factor governing the degree to which operational activities may be undertaken at those facilities. A link between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and winter (defined as December–February) wave heights at North Sea oil and gas installations has been established. A tool has been developed that uses a forecast NAO index to predict the proportions of wave heights in four categories that could be used to assess the operational downtime that will be experienced in the coming winter. The wave height forecasting system is shown to have useful skill in predicting the probability of occurrence of a stormy winter, and therefore probability forecasts provide a potentially useful guide to whether more or less disruption than the “climatological mean” might be experienced. The main limit on the skill of the wave forecasts is our very limited ability to accurately predict the NAO index on seasonal time scales.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1229-1244
Author(s):  
Xiao-Rong Qu ◽  
Yan-Ming Zhu ◽  
Wu Li ◽  
Xin Tang ◽  
Han Zhang

The Huanghua Depression is located in the north-centre of Bohai Bay Basin, which is a rift basin developed in the Mesozoic over the basement of the Huabei Platform, China. Permo-Carboniferous source rocks were formed in the Huanghua Depression, which has experienced multiple complicated tectonic alterations with inhomogeneous uplift, deformation, buried depth and magma effect. As a result, the hydrocarbon generation evolution of Permo-Carboniferous source rocks was characterized by discontinuity and grading. On the basis of a detailed study on tectonic-burial history, the paper worked on the burial history, heating history and hydrocarbon generation history of Permo-Carboniferous source rocks in the Huanghua Depression combined with apatite fission track testing and fluid inclusion analyses using the EASY% Ro numerical simulation. The results revealed that their maturity evolved in stages with multiple hydrocarbon generations. In this paper, we clarified the tectonic episode, the strength of hydrocarbon generation and the time–spatial distribution of hydrocarbon regeneration. Finally, an important conclusion was made that the hydrocarbon regeneration of Permo-Carboniferous source rocks occurred in the Late Cenozoic and the subordinate depressions were brought forward as advantage zones for the depth exploration of Permo-Carboniferous oil and gas in the middle-northern part of the Huanghua Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China.


2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Arthur Bourassa ◽  
Tove Husby ◽  
Rick Deuane Watts ◽  
Dale Oveson ◽  
Tommy M. Warren ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cenk Temizel ◽  
Celal Hakan Canbaz ◽  
Hakki Aydin ◽  
Bahar F. Hosgor ◽  
Deniz Yagmur Kayhan ◽  
...  

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.


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