ENGI 9625 - Environmental Impacts of

Offshore Oil and Gas Operations

LECTURE 5
The Production Activities and the
Associated Wastes in the Offshore
Oil and Gas Operations

Instructor: Hongjing Wu, Ph.D.

Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science

Tel: +1(709)864-4764
Email: hjwu@mun.ca
 2
Figure 5.1 Framework of oil and gas production processes
 1. Production activities
 Primary recovery (Primary production)
o Oil flows to the well on its own natural pressure
o When pressure decrease  oil flows slowly
using pump jacks to pull the oil to surface
o About 5 – 30 percent can be extracted

 Secondary recovery (Secondary

production)
o For better exploiting the reservoir
o Flooding with water  inject water into side of
the reservoir  force the oil toward the well
o Reservoir pressure increased (artificially)
o In rare cases, natural gas is pumped  later
recovered
o In crease the proportion of extractable oil to as
3
much as 45%
 Tertiary recovery (Enhanced Oil Recovery)
o Applied to oil reservoir that had previously been
shut down
o More expensive  economically, due to rising oil
prices
o Methods used to decrease the viscosity of the oil
 hot water and solvents
or using polymer (synthetic liquid) between the
oil and water
o Additives developed  increasing the viscosity of
the water
prevent the water from flowing past the oil.
o Up to 60-65% of oil can be recovered
o Take up 4% of total worldwide oil production  will contribute to 20%
by the year 2030
o For natural gas  sufficient to employ pumps to suck the gas out

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 Table 5.1 Typical quantities of wastes discharged during offshore oil and gas
exploration and production activities

Discharges Approx. amounts (tons)

Exploration sites (ranges for a single well)
Drilling mud – periodically 15 to 30
– bulk at end 150 to 400
Cuttings (dry mass) 200 to 1,000
Base oil on cuttings 30 to 120(a)
Production Site (multiple wells):
Drilling mud 45,000 (b)
Cuttings 50,000(b)
Produced water 1,500/day (c)

Notes: (a) Actual loss to the environment may be higher; (b) estimate based on 50
wells drilled from a single offshore production platform, drilled over 4 to 20 years; (c)
from a single platform

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 2. Produced water
o The formation water separated from the hydrocarbons
o Most significant wastes generated in production  volume and
quantity
o Components mainly varies according to formation water  2nd
recovery, 3rd recovery, types of chemicals
 Usually include dissolved mineral salts and organic
compounds (BTEX, PAHs), oil hydrocarbons, heavy metals,
suspended particles, biocides, deck drainage, ballast water,
cooling/process water, etc.
 Other substances: components used during drilling and other
production operations
o Can mix with extracted oil, gas, and injection waters
Complex and changeable composition
o Amount: typically, 7-10 bbls of water/ barrel of oil; a single
platform can discharge 2,000 – 7,000 m3 ; 77 billion bbl/year
(2003)
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o Increasing ages of oil fields  increasing volumes and difficulty of
the treatment for produced water
o Produced water need to be cleaned before discharge  oil
separator mainly remove particulate and dispersed oil  20 mg/L -
50 mg/L dissolved hydrocarbons release to the marine system 
my be solved by effective technologies (Such as membranes from
natural cellulose materials)
o About 10% oil discharged into ocean due to produced water (20% of
oil discharge in the North Sea)

Table 5.2 Volumes of treated Produced Water Discharged to the Ocean in different
Parts of the World
Locations Discharge rate (m3/day)
U.S. Gulf of Mexico 549,000
Offshore California 14,650
Cook Inlet, Alaska 22,065
North sea 512,000
Australia 100,000
7
West Java Sea (3 offshore facilities) 192,000
 Table 5.3 Produced water composition compared to seawater
in mg/L unless otherwise noted

Parameter Produced water Seawater

Dispersed oil 15-60
BTEX 1-67
NPD(Naphthalene, 0.06-2.3 9-185ng/L
phenanthrene,
dibenzothiophene)
PAH 1308-1575 1-45ng/L
Organic acids (<C6) 55-760
phenols 0.1-43
Ba 0.2-228 µg/L 22-80 µg/L
Cd 0.4-5 4-23 ng/L
Cu 2-82 20-500 ng/L
Fe 0.1-15 1-8 µg/L
Pb 0.4-0.8 µg/L 20-81 ng/L
Zn 0.5-13 0.3-1.4 µg/L
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 Contaminants of produced water can be classified as following
groups:

 Oil
o All the organic materials in oil group exist in
 Dispersed form  relatively easier to separate from wastewater
using primary separations
 Dissolved form  require more severe treatment
− Composition  varies with the type of oil (paraffinic,
asphaltenic, or condensate)
− Classified into  aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic
compounds, and organic acids
− Will increase the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and
possibly deplete dissolved oxygen level
 Amount of oil can be measured as: Total Petroleum
Hydrocarbons (TPH), Total Organic Carbon (TOC), PAH
 Typically, TPH = 300-1000 mg/L, TOC = 150-750 mg/L,

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 Metals
o Include, alkaline earth (Ba, Ca, Mg, Sr), earth (B), and alkaline (Na,
K, Li)
o BaSO4 scale may form on contact with seawater
o Measured as: dissolved, acid soluble, total recoverable, etc.

 Radionuclides
o Produced waters naturally occurring contain radioactive elements,
such as radium - 226 and radium – 228  increasing concerns
about radioactive risk

 Treatment chemicals
o Production treatment chemicals (scale inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor,
biocides, etc.)
o Gas treating chemicals (H2S scavenger, dehydrator)

 Dissolved salt
o Produced water with high salinity  3 – 300 g/L
o Predominantly NaCl and more acidic than seawater
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o NaCl  80% of total dissolved solids (1,500 -180,000 mg/L)
 Dissolved oxygen
o Causing severe corrosion to the system  prevent oxygen getting
into produced water
o Due to a large amount of biodegradable material in produced water
 high BOD

 Impact of produced water is the function of fate of contaminants:

 Dispersed oil – high BOD, and low molecular weight organics will
evaporate
 Dissolved oil – stays in water column, high BOD, degrades
through biological activity and photo oxidation
 Heavy metals – collect in sediment if not in equilibrium with
seawater  dispersion in sediment (function of absorb
contaminant, sedimentation rates, grain size distribution)

o Toxicity studies  larvae are the most vulnerable to produced water

 produced water treated by biocide is 100 times
higher than the toxicity of untreated effluents
 acute toxicity of produced water is relatively low
(LC50 values vary within 1-30%) 11
Table 5.2 Summarized results of toxicological studies of produced
waters discharged in the sea

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 Figure 5.2 Dilution contours at 5 m depth of produced water dispersal in a
scale model: current velocity 0.3 m/s
Note: 1 – rig support structure, 2 – discharge point

o Dilution will be a function of oceanic conditions, nature of produced

water, depth of discharge point  normally, very quick
o Due to dilution of produced water, acute impacts are unlikely
chronic impacts 13
o Research focus on  components results in chronic biological
effects
 PAHs  mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic properties
 High molecular weight phenols  endocrine disruption

o General impacts of produced water:

 Alkyl phenols (APs), naphthenic acids, and PAHs may cause
endocrine and reproductive effects for fish and invertebrates
 Significant biological effects on pelagic organisms < 1 km
 Toxic concentrations seem restricted to < 2 km distance
 Bioaccumulation of hydrocarbons
 present in organisms closed to platforms
 significantly decrease with distance from platform
 Sediment is affected in the near field
 Risk of widespread impact from the operational discharges is
Low  due to dilution

o Instead of measuring all pollutants in the produced water, other

ways to measure impact includes: environmental risk assessment;
oil/water distribution; bioaccumulation, biodegradation, toxicity. 14
 Reduction of the volume of produced water
o Shutting down water producing wells
o Isolating water producing zones in the reservoir (setting plugs, and
using cement and chemical treatment)
o Utilizing polymer gels and relative permeability modifiers
o Reuse as process water – must be treated
o Minimize use in recover – steam injection
o Downhole separation of oil and water (DOWS)
 Separates oil and gas from produced water at the bottom of the
well
 Re-inject some of the produced water into another formation 
cost reduction
 Environmentally friendly contaminated produced water directly
pumped back to the reservoir  less chemicals and power 
Source reduction (pollution prevention)
 DOWS installed on some wells in USA, Canada (hydrocyclones
and gravity separation)  unproven for larger wells and projects
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 Produced water treatment
• The treatment technology  based on the meeting the specific
conditions with regard to dispersion droplet sizes, solids, quantity,
energy consumption, size and weight of equipment  crucial to first
define which components of the produced water be focused on

 Treatment technologies
o Primary treatment
 Based on  gravity separation
 Suitable for  easily removable contaminants
 Reduce workload of sequential treatments
 Example  flotation and sedimentation
o Secondary treatment
 Remove  selective group of contaminates
 Not complete removal of all organic contaminants
Example  air striping effective for volatile compounds, but not
for non-volatile ones
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o Tertiary treatment
 Render the water  to an acceptable level
 Usually combination of different processes, depending on  type
and dgree of contamination (e.g. chemical oxidation, AC
adsorption)
o Treatment for petroleum wastes
 Example for refinery pollution control
− Most of the attention focuses on  organic compounds
removal
− The treatment of wastewater from refinery  removal of
diverse pollutants
 Oil and grease  immediate concern and usually removed by
physical separation
 Biological treatment, carbon adsorption, and filtration  currently
used to remove suspended and dissolved organic constituents
 Chemical treatment  often required for neutralization, emulsion
breaking, and chemical precipitation.

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 Table 5.3 technology
to clean up produced
water evaluated by
API (1994)

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© Bing Chen
o API separator (Oil separator)
 Applicability
− Removal of materials  less dense than water
− Removal of suspended materials  more dense than water 
sedimentation
 Design factors for oil separators
− Specific gravity of the oil and wastewater
− Temperature of the waste stream
− Presence or absence of emulsions
− Suspended solids concentration
 Efficiency factors for oil separators
− Many design and operating variables, but two most
significant factors  flow rate and influent oil
concentration
− Hydraulically prevent “flushing” at high flow, bypass or
overflow lines generally used
− Higher efficiency for higher oil concentration (could
reach 90%) 19
  Removal of other contaminants
− Highly variable
− COD removal  15 – 80%
− SS  30 – 65%

o Tilted plate separation

 Simple form of primary separation process
− A number of parallel and usually corrugated plates held
together
− Reduce  settling distance of oil droplets
− Usually placed at an angle  allowing separated oil droplets
removed by  gravity drainage
 Broad applications
− Remove  free oil from refinery wastewater
− Little space required
− Can be installed adjacent to existing oil separator
 reduce effluent oil levels
 reduce hydraulic load and enhancing oil removal capacity
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o Centrifugal separation
 Apply centrifugal forces to mixture 
separation
 Enhance  settling velocity of oil droplets
significantly
 Easily separate droplets as small as 40 μm
 Compact equipment and highly efficient
o Filtration
 Pretreatment for oil and solid removal 
remove SS and insoluble hydrocarbons
− Some filtration processes effective in
removing  free and emulsified oils from
refinery effluent
− Media  like sand special media for specific affinity for oil
− Example  upflow with graded silica media
• Small particles and oil globules  separated and retained
on media  collected near the top
− Regeneration of the bed  wash by rapid rate of water and
evacuate solids and remaining oil
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− Process often enhanced by using polymer resin media
  Advantages
− Compactness of the units
− Favorable economics in some cases
− Flexible operation through control of flowrate and
backwash regeneration
 Disadvantages
− Higher operational and maintenance costs resulted from
problems with  solids, stabilized oil emulsions, dirt and grit
collecting rapidly
− Lower efficiencies in some cases than gravity separation
o Flotation
 Gravity separation process  separation achieved by
increasing specific gravity difference of two phases
 Processes
− Fine gas bubbles  injected into oil containing water phase
− Oil droplets adhere to the surface of gas bubbles
− Gas bubbles  carry oil droplets to the surface
− Oil is trapped and skimmed off the surface 22
  Removal efficiency
− Decreases with  increasing bulk flow liquid rate
− Increases with  decreasing bubble diameter
 Literatures suggested
− 90-95% removal of oil droplets
− Presence of sand  reduces efficiency
− Additional chemical  improves performance (flocculants)
− Incapable of reducing toxicity  required additional AC

o DAF (dissolved air flotation)

 Generally preceded by gravity
separator for gross quantities
 Release of pressurized wastewater
 minute bubbles  float
suspended and oily particulate to
surface
 Provide better effluent quality to
meet required oil levels
 Chemicals required for significant
oil emulsification  aluminum, iron, 23
calcium slats, and polymers  de-emulsification
  Efficiency factors  design overflow rate, retention time, recycle
volume, pressurization level, air/solid ratio, type and volume of
chemical addition, concentration and form of influent oil

o Coagulation and sedimentation

 Gravity separation based process  removing colloids
 Added coagulants  inorganic salts and synthetic organic
polymers
 Less effective than  flotation
 Cannot be used individually
 Process flow 
− Rapid – mix tank
− Slow agitation in flocculation tank
− Sedimentation
 Common coagulant aids  activated silica and organic
polyelectrolyte
 Consideration for optimizing process  effect of pH, flocculation
time, chemical selection 24
  Application to reactor-clarifiers
− Remove  suspended and colloidal material in refinery
effluent
− Effective in  reducing nutrients and heavy metals
 Most important component  sludge handling and disposal

o Steam stripping
 Comparison with air stripping
− Similar principle, different medium
− Less volatile compounds extracted by steam stripping
− More costly than air stripping
 Remove selected constituents
− Two most prevalent pollutants in refinery wastewater  H2S
and NH3
− Use of steam  condense with hydrocarbon vapor phase
containing H2S and NH3
− Can also strip  phenol
 Other aromatics stripped at various efficiencies
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 Secondary and tertiary treatment
o Activated carbon Adsorption
 Remove dissolved hydrocarbon
 Factors for the applicability of AC adsorption include
− Adsorption capacity of the carbon for the organic compounds
− Competitive adsorption of different substances in a multi-
component system
 Single and multi-component systems
− Adsorption capacity  the ultimate capacity to adsorb a
single solute
− In a multi-component system, the rate of transfer is of the
paramount importance  the amount of a particular
compound adsorbed onto the carbon
− Competitive adsorption  adsorption capacities of AC for
individual components decreases
− AC can also  lower the toxicity level of the wastewater
− Literature showed  direct processing of contaminated
water by AC  not very effective
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o Biological treatment
 Organic matter  food (substrate) for microorganisms  organic
substrate be converted to CO2, water and more new cells
 Microorganisms can be
− Aerobic  need free oxygen
− Anoxic  can use bound oxygen (e.g. from NO3 for denitrification)
− Anaerobic  do not need free oxygen
− Facultative  can grow with or without oxygen
 State of microorganisms in wastewater
− Suspended  mixed liquor SS or mixed liquor volatile SS
− Attached  to some medium
 Rate of microbial growth  depend on amount of organic matter
(substrate)
 Aerobic/anoxic processes
− Aerobic processes  heterotrophic bacteria (obtain C from
organics) can oxidize
− 1/3 of organic matter to CO2 + water
− 2/3 of organic matter to new cells  anoxic process
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 Aerobic treatment  main method for wastewater treatment
o Membranes (filtration)
 Semi-permeable barriers (with uniform pores, range from 0.1 nm
– 1000 nm)
− Allow  the passage of the solvent
− Retard  the passage of solutes
 Cannot be used a one step process  the oily water will plug
the pores of the membrane
 Suitable as secondary or tertiary treatment processes for 
removal of dissolved organic compounds  reduce toxicity
 Newer membrane-based technologies  silicone rubber
o Electrolytic treatment
 Greatly reduce concentration of oil in water  from 4,770 mg/L
to 10 mg/L
 Electrolytic breakup  emulsions
 Carried out by an electrolytic cell
 Use ferrous ion to destabilized the oil emulsions  then reacts
with them in the presence of air
− form ferric-hydroxide microfloc
28
− destabilized oil droplets are adsorbed by microfloc
o Electrosorption
 Electrosorption or potential swing adsorption  a method to removal
of organics from  dilute ionic solutions (produced water)
 An adsorption process
− Driving force  electrochemical potential of the adsorbing media
− Using adsorbents (e.g. AC) with large surface areas as well as
favorable electrical conductivity
 Example  removal of ethyleneamines (a class of amine compounds
containing ethylene) from produced water

o Other methods include: Activated sludge, wet oxidation, chemical

oxidation, cooling tower oxidation, rotating biological contactor, waste
stabilization pond, aerated lagoons, etc.

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 3. Atmospheric emissions
 Atmospheric emissions  all stages of oil and gas activities, the
main sources include
o Constant or periodical burning  associated gas and excessive
amounts of hydrocarbons
o Continuous flaring to eliminate gas from storage tanks and pressure-
controlling systems
 Flaring  controlled burning  water vapor, CO2, noise and
heat. May also include CO, NOx, H2S, SO2, PAH, CH4, low
molecular weight hydrocarbon.
o Combustion of gaseous and liquid fuel in energetic units
 About 10% of total oil and gas production in Great British 
flared and used for covering the energetic needs of field
developments
o Evaporation or venting on hydrocarbons during production,
treatment, transportation, and storage
 Venting  controlled release of gases into the atmosphere 
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methane
 Major components of atmospheric emission:
o Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon
monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and the products of the
incomplete burning of hydrocarbons
 Some pollutants react with atmospheric moisture
 precipitate onto the coastal area and sea surface
 local and regional pollution

o Methane emission in the British section of the North Sea  75,000

tons a year  greenhouse gas  climate change
o Up to 30% of hydrocarbons emitted during well testing on surface 
create unstable slicks  Concerns for marine life

 Mitigation methods
 Low emission natural gas fired equipment
 Electrical system
 Better designed for flare systems
 Sulphur recovery, gas recovery
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 4. Other wastes
 Produced sand
o Generated from unconsolidated sand in production zone 
common in AB and SASK
o Slurried particles  originating from hydraulic fractionation,
formation sands, scale generated during production
o Includes varying amounts mineral scale, corrosion products, slurries
generated in produced water treatment system
o Volume generated depends on  formation, age, field and
production methods.

 Treatment/disposal
o Transfer to land and treat with land farming, road construction and
landfill
o Injection – hydraulic fracture of formation required
o Discharge to water  treatment levels depends on requirement
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 Deck drainage
o Wastewater generated from platform washing, deck washing,
spillage, rainwater, and runoff from curbs, gutters, and drains,
including drip pans and wash areas
o Include chemicals such as drilling fluids, ethylene glycol, lubricants,
fuels, biocides, surfactants, detergents, corrosion inhibitors,
cleaners, solvents, paint cleaners, bleach, dispersants, coagulants,
and any other chemical used in the daily operations of the facility
o Must be treated prior to discharge.
o Oil and grease  the primary pollutants

 Treatment
o Using sump and skim pile system (EPA)
 Gravity separation in the sump  Oil and water
 After treatment in an oil water separator,
clean water is discharged,
oily water is stored onboard until it can be transferred to an
approved disposal site. 33
 Sanitary sewage
o Wastewater discharged from toilets and urinals
o Volumes varies widely with time, occupancy, facility characteristics,
and operational situation
o Primarily organics High BOD, and nutrients
o Others include fecal coliform bacteria, total suspended solids (TSS),
total residual chlorine.

 Treatment
o Waste may be ground up, collected in septic tank, transported
onshore
o Biological treatment  discharge
o Example: US. EPA: approved marine sanitation device (MSD)
 no floating solids, no oil, Cl <1 mg/L, BOD <60 mg/L, TSS <60
mg/L, pH = 6.5 -8.5

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 Displacement/ballast water
o Seawater  added or removed to maintain the proper ballast floater
level and ship draft.
o Also includes water used for jackup rig-related sea bed support
capability tests, such as preload water.
o All ballast water contaminated with oil and grease
o If sheen detected  waste stream may not be discharged
o Treatment  using oil-water separator

 Bilge water
o Seawater  collects in the lower internal parts of the drilling vessel
hull.
o Contaminated with oil, grease, solid (rust) at low points in the bilges
o Treatment  using oil-water separator
o Monitoring pH, toxicity before discharge

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  Noise and light
Table 5.4 noise sources and activities in offshore oil and gas operations

o Affects marine life and human activities (fisheries, tourism)

 e.g. Birds mistake lighted platforms for coastland 36
 Whales/seals sensitive to noise (seismic, platform operations)
Figure 5.3 Effluent
streams on production
platform

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