Waste Reduction

Reducing wastes through reuse, recycling and efficiency gains is a key to developing a sustainable future. The oil and natural gas industry has made great strides in reducing its wastes.

Most of the wastes generated by the industry are related to the drilling and production of oil and natural gas, or the refining and distribution of oil and oil products.

Drilling and Production

Wastes generated during drilling and production of oil and natural gas consist mainly of brine waters co-produced with oil and natural gas (i.e., produced water), small pieces of rock (i.e., cuttings), which are generated when wells are drilled into the earth, and drilling mud, a mixture of mud, water and chemicals used to lubricate and stabilize the well hole during drilling. These wastes have declined 56% percent on a barrel of oil equivalent basis from 1976 to 1995, the last time an analysis was done.

Source: Department of Energy, Environmental Benefits of Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technologies

98 percent of these wastes are produced waters, or brine waters coproduced with oil and natural gas. These brines are typically injected back into earth, either into the same rock formation from whence they came, increasing the amount of oil and natural gas that would have been otherwise produced, or into another brine bearing formation that has been approved by the government.

The oil and natural gas industry has achieved this reduction in drilling and production wastes by:

• using oil/water separation technology that separates the oil from the brine underground. Brine is, therefore, not brought to the surface.

• using “slim hole” approaches that reduce the volume of rock pieces generated during drilling.

• using fracture technology, where the producing formation is fractured using high pressure. These cracks allow production from a greater area, thereby reducing the number of wells needed. Horizontal wells, which are drilled down into the producing formation and then laterally along the producing zone also reduces the number of wells needed.

• Using high tech 3 dimensional imaging techniques allow for greater certainty that a drilled well will encounter oil and natural gas, reducing the number of wasted wells drilled looking for, but not finding oil or natural gas.

Source: Department of Energy

Refining

According to the EPA, refining wastes have been reduced 22 percent since 1996. This is thanks to more efficient processes. Today, 94 percent of all refinery waste is recycled, treated to remove harmful chemicals, or used as an energy source. Only 6 percent of refinery wastes now require disposal.

Source: EPA 2008 Oil and Gas Sector Performance Report

These reductions of refinery wastes and disposals of refinery wastes have been achieved through a number of innovations:

• Catalysts: Catalysts speed up chemical reactions and are critical to converting oil into useful products more efficiently. Catalysts are now routinely recovered and recycled.

• Product Recovery: Recovering useful products such as sulfur, ammonia and hydrocarbons from process waters. The waters are reused and the products sold to consumers.

• Cogeneration: Water use at refineries has been reduced by using cogeneration – a technique that generates electricity and steam for facility use and allows the waste heat to be captured for use in refinery processes. This not only has cut energy use dramatically, but has also cut water use.

• Efficiency: More efficient processes use essentially every drop of oil to create useful products, from gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel to asphalt and chemical stocks for everything from plastics to medicines.

• Used Oil Collection: To reduce the impact of improperly disposed of motor oil on the environment, the oil and natural gas industry provides convenient collection sites for used motor oil. The used oil is refined, cleaned and reused, or used as a fuel in factories. The EPA estimates that 200 million gallons of motor oil are improperly disposed of each year, mainly by individuals that change their own oil. To find out more about recycling used motor oil, visit recycleoil.org.

Did you Know?
According to Scientific American, 1.3 billion  gallons of used motor oil are generated in the U.S. each year.  Although most of this oil is recycled and reused or collected and used as a fuel in factories and plants, theEPA estimates that 200 million gallons of this motor oil are improperly disposed of each year by consumers, primarily by individuals that change their own oil.

To help with this problem, the oil and natural gas industry provides convenient motor oil collection centers at many of its gasoline stations. To find a collection center near you, visit recycleoil.org.