Continuous innovation has characterized the oil and gas industry throughout its history. In recent decades, new technologies have been key to finding and extracting recoverable oil and gas resources – located in more challenging geologic formations, in smaller pockets, and in deeper waters far out at sea. Hand-in-hand with overcoming tough geologic and geographic conditions, the industry has also developed new technology and management techniques for enhanced protection of our environment. Today’s exploration technology, for example, is boosting industry success rates in pinpointing new resources. The results: fewer dry holes, reduced waste volumes, and less environmental disruption. Across the E&P spectrum, new technology is delivering:
- More efficient recovery of oil and gas resources
Continuing improvements in recovery efficiency per well translate to fewer wells (and less impact from drilling operations) to achieve the same level of reserves.
- Cleaner, safer operations
Advanced, more energy efficient drilling and production methods cut emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, practically eliminate spills from offshore platforms, and translate into enhanced worker safety, lower risk of blowouts, and better protection of groundwater resources.
Innovative E&P approaches are making a difference to the environment. With advanced technologies, the oil and gas industry can pinpoint resources more accurately and extract them more efficiently, and minimize associated wastes. Most of these advances have been pioneered in the United States, but many are now also providing benefits around the globe.
Increasingly, in our own backyards and in all corners of the earth, innovation is the key to producing oil and gas while protecting natural habitats. Below are just a few examples of the contributions being made by new technology.
- 3-D seismic technology
Improvements in 3-D seismic and 4-D time-lapse visualization, remote sensing, and other exploration technology allow explorationists to target higher-quality prospects and to improve success rates by as much as 50% or more. The result: fewer wells need to be drilled to find a given target and production per well is increased, in some cases by 100%.
- Directional and horizontal drilling
These techniques enable producers to reach reservoirs that are not located directly beneath the drilling rig, a capability that is particularly useful for offshore development. Horizontal drilling may also allow a producer to contact more of the reservoir so that more resources can be recovered from a single well.
- Synthetic drilling fluids
Synthetic drilling fluids combine the higher drilling performance of oil-based fluids with the lower toxicity and environmental impacts of water-based fluids. Because synthetic-based fluids can be recycled, they generate less waste than water-based fluids. Compared to oil-based fluids, synthetic fluids have low-toxicity and low-irritant properties that significantly enhance worker health and safety.
- Dynamic positioning systems
Dynamic positioning systems compensate for the effects of wind, waves, and current, enabling mobile offshore drilling units to hold position over the borehole, maintaining within operational limits lateral loads on the drill stem and marine riser. These systems expand the range of water depths and environmental conditions within which drilling operations can be safely conducted.
- Advanced platform design
New platform designs, such as tension leg platforms (TLPs), offer the advantages of fixed platforms with faster construction time, lower investment costs, less impact to marine habitats, and capability to operate in deeper waters. Less costly mini-TLPs can be constructed and deployed swiftly to develop marginal deepwater fields. Spars, which can be easily relocated and reused, are also attractive for developing marginal fields.
- Reuse of offshore platforms as artificial reefs
In the "rigs-to-reefs" program, offshore platforms are toppled and sent to the bottom of the ocean, providing several acres of living and feeding habitat for thousands of underwater species. Within 6 months to 1 year after a rig is placed on the seafloor, it will be a thriving ecosystem completely covered with marine life.
- Improved waste management planning
The industry is aggressively employing technology to reduce or eliminate waste by preventing it at the source. Techniques include better planning, materials management, material reclamation, and recycling; major changes to processes; improved auditing and maintenance procedures; changes in day-to-day operations to control waste generation; and more targeted employee training.
The U.S. oil and gas industry has integrated an environmental ethic into its business culture and operations. The industry has come to recognize that high environmental standards and responsible development are good business, and it is demonstrating its commitment to protecting the environment in research and technology investments, policies and practices, and participation in a host of voluntary environmental protection programs. Industry’s use of smarter, more efficient technology complements these trends.
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