The major environmental effects from offshore drilling result from the discharge of waste.
Drilling wells for decades has led to drill cuttings accumulating on the seabed at offshore installations and subsea developments. Potential risks to the environment occur when these drill cuttings become coated in oil based or synthetic oil drilling mud and are disposed of in the marine environment and settle on the sea floor.
The Oslo and Paris (OSPAR) Commission Recommendation 2006/5 on the Management Regime for Offshore Cuttings Piles (OSPAR, 2006) requires that the environmental impact associated with oil and/or other substances from cuttings piles is reduced to a non-significant level.
The OSPAR Recommendation has been implemented in two stages. Stage One is the characterisation of cuttings piles to define those requiring further investigation. Characterisation of these piles is to be completed within two years of the Recommendation coming into effect i.e. before the end of the second quarter of 2008.
Cuttings piles carried forward into Stage Two will require a Best Available Techniques (BAT) and/or Best Environmental Practice (BEP) assessment of the cutting pile management options.
Xodus Group, through collaboration between Xodus Subsea and Xodus AURORA, has been commissioned by various operators to review cuttings piles in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) and results have proved that Xodus is providing a service second to none.
To fulfil Stage One of the Recommendation – characterisation of the cuttings piles – Xodus has established the most comprehensive cuttings piles screening strategy on the market. This strategy has been designed to best fit the currently available information on installations’ cuttings piles.
For the cuttings piles carried over to Stage Two, or in preparation for the potential decommissioning of installations, a review of the available management options and legislative drivers is performed. Xodus considers the best option for dealing with the cuttings piles, adhering to OSPAR requirements as well as EU and UK legislations and guidelines set out by Oil and Gas UK. This includes supplying the client with details of the feasible management options, an outline of execution plans, operation cost estimates and scheduled estimates.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Natural degradation in-situ. |
|
|
Covering in-situ. |
|
|
Natural degradation following dispersal. |
|
