EGS XXVI General Assembly, Nice, France, March 2001

ERE1. Environmental challenges associated with hydrocarbon production: remediation, improved extraction, and sensitive exploitation (co-sponsored by SE):

Event Information

The extraction of hydrocarbons from the Earth is of huge economic and social importance. Hydrocarbons fuel our travel, drive our communications, and contribute at a basic level to many of the products that we take for granted from hospital syringes to food packaging. Indeed, disagreements over the control of these resources has led to wars, and may lead to further violence in future. However, the extraction of hydrocarbons also has a huge impact upon the Earth's natural environment. Examples of this may include the effect of seismic surveys on cetaceans, the effect of pollution on the world's oceans and seas, and the decommissioning of oil production platforms. Remediation of pollution, improved hydrocarbon recovery and sensitive exploitation can go some way to striking a balance between the need for oil and the effects such exploitation causes. Papers are invited covering the broad subject of reducing the impact of oil exploration and production on the environment. Examples of such topics include: (i) Methods of remediation of current pollution caused by drilling muds and cuttings. (ii) The limitation and remediation of water and oil spills at refineries. (iii) Improved methods of cleaning up spills of oil from tanker disasters during oil transport. (iv) Case studies of rig decommissioning. (v) The reduction and prevention of pollutant gases into the environment from rigs and refineries. (vi) Novel and improved methods of optimising the extractable oil from existing mature fields such that further field development is, for the present, unnecessary. (vii) Improvements to the design of drilling and production rigs such that they are more sensitive to the environment. (viii) The design of seismic methods to reduce their impact upon the sea-life. (ix) The effect of oil spills and SOx, NOx and VOC gas emissions upon animal and plant life. It is hoped that this session will attract presentations, posters and an audience from a wide interest area. Presentations are particularly welcome from scientists studying the oceans and the atmosphere, the effect on animal and plant life, engineers involved in finding environmentally sensitive solutions to their problems, and scientists working for environmental organisations or for the hydrocarbon industry.

Preliminary List of Solicited Speakers

Co-Sponsorship