Abstract
As the world faces new challenges to protect the environment from all human-generated wastes, self-imposed industry policies as well as governmental regulations support new green policies towards implementing best, not necessarily least costly, practices to prevent any environmental damage due to spillage during operations. Waste Injection (WI) has been selected as the preferred methodology of final disposal of oilfield wastes, including cuttings, produced water, drilling fluids and tank bottoms, etc., by many operators and legislators because it achieves zero discharge in a safe and efficient manner at a lesser operating cost than comparable proven technologies. This may be particularly true for large-scale projects. Mexico, Argentina, Azerbaijan, USA, UK, Norway, Russia and other countries have strategically implemented WI operations in field developments because they comply with local laws and they avoid future liabilities as wastes are permanently isolated and stored below surface.
The development and implementation of such technology in large-scale projects is carefully designed using a risk-based analysis that is comprised of fracturing studies of the area of injection, technologies integration, logistics, equipment specification and process monitoring, all with the aim of performing a seamless and risk-free operation. The following paper addresses planning and implementation methodology for WI operations with real examples that demonstrate the value of proper preparation and integration of various technologies to attain maximum efficiency under QHSE standards.
