Drilling waste minimization in the Barents Sea

Abstract

With the increasing demand for energy over recent decades, the Arctic region has become an interesting area for future oil and gas exploration and development. The Barents Sea has the most western position among the Arctic seas surrounding the coast of Western Russia and Northern Norway. In the recent years several oil and gas discoveries done in this area and the number of wells is steadily increasing. During oil and gas drilling operations various types of waste are generated and waste minimization has major benefits for oil and gas companies by reducing costs used for waste management and disposal. Often oil and gas operators have not enough experience related to the waste handling in the Arctic environments. Moreover there are restrictions about selection of suitable drilling waste management options due to environment condition, regulatory requirements and poorly developed waste treatment facilities in the area. The Barents Sea has a harsh and sensitive environment at a remote location, hence, effective handling and management of drilling waste is becoming essential to ensure fulfillment of health, safety, environmental, and quality requirements. For this purpose, in this master thesis qualitative assessment of drilling waste handling options is conducted and suggests suitable methods for minimization of generated well drilling wastes. To achieve that, the work presented in this study addresses the potential impact of operation condition in the Barents Sea. The results obtained in this master thesis contribute to the goal of improving the assessment of drilling waste management.