Drilling advances

Vol. 233 No. 12

JIP to advance impact-free drilling

If its champions have their way, a proposed joint industry project (JIP) would help clear the way for an onshore drilling and production operation to be carried out with zero environmental impact.

In seeking the blessing of the Drilling Engineering Association (DEA), proponents of the Technology Integration Program (TIP) said the JIP would add a holistic element to the eight-year-old Environmentally Friendly Drilling (EFD) program. In other words, where much of the private and publically-funded EFD’s efforts have concentrated on specific components, the research initiative would look at the entire process to identify the gaps that, once filled, could allow the industry to someday deliver a footprint-free drilling operation. Plans call for a final public report, to be ready by the end of next year.

During a presentation in Houston last month, Natalie Wagner of the Cross Divisional Environmental Innovation team of National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Tom Williams, senior advisor to the EFD program, said DEA backing of the integration analysis would avail researchers to a wealth of sorely needed multi-disciplinary expertise. According to the formal JIP proposal, the TIP comprises “A broad and comprehensive effort requiring subject matter experts from various disciplines. The added exposure from DEA will help provide a needed project team and a venue to maximize the value of conducting this proposed study.”

Geared especially for unconventional shale plays, the study to “Identify and Measure the Environmental Impact of Onshore Drilling” is NOV’s brainchild. Wagner said it is intended to go beyond individual components and focus on developing a seamless methodology for minimal-impact drilling and production.

She said it is not far-fetched to imagine the day that a land-based drilling operation could be executed with zero environmental impact. “My personal underlying belief is that it is possible to do it with no environmental impact, but we need to take a different approach,” she says. “Most of the technology is there. It’s just a matter of incorporating it. Some of what we look at may be economically driven, in that the economics might not be in place to encourage some of the integration needed. If so, we need to know why.”

The answer to that and other existing limitations would come in an across-the-board gap analysis that would look at current onshore operations, to identify the needed improvements in technology and/or practices for a minimal-impact onshore operation. To that end, the TIP will consider the myriad aspects of an operation.

“We are fully confident there will be market opportunities exposed through the gap analysis,” Wagner says. “It might be that there are technologies missing, such as engineering controls, for instance. It might be that improvements in practices are required. Regardless, there’s opportunity here for a great deal of improvement.”

That process, she says, goes beyond well construction and production processes, and also assimilates recycling and beneficial reuse of produced and flowback water. The results of the study and subsequent gap analysis would be equally applicable for onshore applications worldwide, where, like in the U.S., unconventional resource producers face increasing public scrutiny.

By first-quarter 2013, TIP proponents hope to form a project team, and develop work plans and a budget for a 12-month study.

Timing very appropriate. Conceived in 2005, the EFD program is partially funded by the public and private Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (REPSA) and managed by the non-profit Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC). The EFD initiative is described as a collaborative effort between industry, academia, government and environmental organizations. The aim of the EFD program is to provide “unbiased science to identify, develop and transfer critical, cost-effective, new technologies that can provide policymakers and industry with the ability to develop reserves in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.”

Given the public’s ever-increasing circumspection of E&P operations, supporters believe the timing of the TIP could not be more appropriate. “Further development in America’s unconventional resources will likely require greater disclosure in regard to environmental performance and, consequently, the performance will have to improve,” they say.

In a white paper released late last year, the National Petroleum Council (NPC) cited new pad-site designs, extended-reach drilling and multi-lateral technologies among the innovations that are effectively reducing environmental impacts of onshore operations, but go largely unnoticed. 

“The environmental impacts caused by the oil and gas industry are at the forefront of the public eye. What is less known and appreciated are recent advances in drilling technology that have provided the energy industry with the means to mitigate environmental footprints while simultaneously increasing production capabilities,” the authors concluded.

The TIP would take the EFD to a new dimension, and if all goes as planned, the year-end report could hopefully help ease the concerns of a skittish public and also provide service companies with a roadmap for future developments.

“We believe this will encourage innovation, as service providers will be able to more clearly prioritize their internal research efforts or investments with academia. Companies will be able to better identify and utilize appropriate technologies, equipment and solutions. The public and policymakers will be able to see where we are, without the lens of political agendas or bias,” sponsors say.