The results of some fairly random web surfing:This is mainly for Paul (right now); but contains tidbits that many may find intriguing....not edited....
googled: "oil drilling" "water consumption"
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:dvIIQuJeaxEJ:epmr-2002.neu.edu.tr/sess/ss17%2520sirali.doc+%22oil+drilling%22+%22water+consumption%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us
Radioactivity: Uranium, Radium, Thorium....
U~10-7to10-6 g/l; Ra ~10-10to10-9 g/l; Th ~10-4to10-3 g/l; so, their concentration increases 8-10 times.
It is obvious that during well drilling about 20,000 tons oil-stratum water flowing on the ground faces. Significant amount of this water is being released to the environment; a little amount is retained and cleaned for re-drilling. This means that pollution of environment by radioactive elements increases remarkable and that is why radiation-ecological problem is considered as the urgent problem of radiation safety in oil production industry of Azerbaijan.
http://www.ipieca.org/activities/social/downloads/publications/water_mngt.pdf• Water Resource Management in the Petroleum Industry • IPIECA
ENCANA SAYS HATS OFF TO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
Guidelines in action: Best practice in action:
Operating Responsibility Sharing innovative ways of managing water
In all operations, EnCana strives to make efficient use of resources. For instance, around Medicine Hat, Canada EnCana is employing centrifuges in an ongoing effort to reduce the volume of fresh water used for an oil well. In 2004 EnCana drilled 90 oil wells in the Suffield area using this technique and realized a 31,000 m3 reduction in water consumption.
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The system was designed with a series of dividers so that the used drilling fluid moves from one cell to the next to slowly settle out the solids leaving clear water in the last cell.
This clear water is then transported to drilling operations for reuse. This method of recycling reduced the amount of fresh water used for a shallow gas well by 35% for a total 20,000 m3 reduction in 2004.
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If you’re the largest user of drinking water in an extremely arid region and you’re also on the edge of a popular fishing and recreation area, you face a double challenge – fresh water restrictions and low tolerance for wastewater emissions.
Kwinana Refinery – built on the sensitive Cockburn Sound in Western Australia – tackled both issues in 1997 with a three-pronged strategy. To minimise water use and to re-use it where possible; to use lower quality ground water where suitable for industrial processes; and to eliminate all process wastewater discharges into the Sound.
By 2004 the new approach was delivering. The refinery used 40% less fresh water and 70% less drinking water and reduced wastewater flows by 40%. It wasn’t just the environment that benefited - the refinery’s water management strategy is saving over US $1 million a year.
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Unlike the salty water produced from most Central Valley oil fields, water from Kern River is fresh, making it ideal for local growers. About half the 40 million gallons of water produced from the oil field each day is supplied to local farmers via pipeline or canal and their local water authorities.
The remaining 20 million gallons per day are used by ChevronTexaco in its operations – injected as steam to coax more oil from the field, or used for field maintenance projects.
ChevronTexaco treats and monitors water before it leaves the oil field to ensure it is suitable for agricultural use. Water passes through specialized equipment that removes all but trace amounts of oil and solids.
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ExxonMobil aims to conduct business in a way that’s compatible with the balanced environmental and economic needs of the communities in which it operates. This means using alternative sources of water (saline groundwater, produced water, etc.), rather than freshwater whenever economically feasible. It also
means recycling the majority of produced water in waterflood projects, and using contaminated water for waterflood injection, rather than injecting it into disposal wells.
As part of its drive to reduce freshwater use, ExxonMobil used produced water from the Husky Ram River Wastewater Pond to plug and abandon two gas wells in the Foothills rather than using fresh water from the nearby Clearwater River. Measures to protect surface and groundwater quality include berms for many
new leases – these allow surface runoff water to be collected and tested before release. Water quality in discharge and in groundwater wells is also carefully measured, and ExxonMobil annually completes a due diligence groundwater monitoring programme at all facilities to ensure the protection of surrounding groundwater resources.
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The Karachaganak Field is one of the world’s largest, with initial exploration and production placing considerable demands on the local public water supply. Additional capacity to treat wastewater was needed, as was improved storage of run-off to reduce the chances of contaminating nearby groundwater.
The Field wanted to develop measures that would prevent wastewater being discharged into local water sources and provide for water reuse.
Initial analysis showed that the local rivers and aquifers formed an effective but fragile ecosystem, with little water to spare for the demands of the field. A new pumping station was therefore built to bring water in from the Konchubai Gulley – and now over 150,000m3 a year no longer needs to be taken from the public supply. Water treatment and water disposal facilities were also upgraded, with wastewater now used for dust control and fire fighting. The extent and complexity of the new water management programme shows just how seriously KPO takes its responsibilities to the environment and the local community.
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Imperial Oil’s Cold Lake facility in Canada is one of the largest oil sands operations in the world. Recovering bitumen from oil sands takes a lot of water – it is used to create the steam that heats the bitumen to the point where it may be recovered. Wherever possible, Imperial always seeks to reuse as much of this injected water as possible – currently recycling around 95%. Imperial was also the first operation in the area to use brackish water from deep saline aquifers, so reducing its demand on local fresh water resources.
Although bitumen production has climbed steadily since commercial operation began in 1985, fresh water use over the period has actually declined. This is thanks to Imperial’s “water management hierarchy” and efficient use of scarce water resources at Cold Lake. Some fresh water is still required, and this is drawn either from Cold Lake or, when monitoring shows the lake level is low, from alternative groundwater sources.
As operations continue to expand at Cold Lake, water management programmes will intensify too. Plans including an expansion of the brackish water system, and a treated water transfer line to enable greater use of recycled water across the operation result in no appreciable increase in fresh water use.
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TOTAL’s Research Department is hard at work seeing whether some of the water produced in its operations can be used for irrigation, and so contribute to sustainable development in arid regions, by augmenting local water reources.
TOTAL’s researchers have planted a series of greenhouse crops, and are experimenting by irrigating them with produced water which has low levels of salt. Before the produced water arrives at the crops it has been filtered several times through artificial wetland biofilters (made up of reedbeds and halophytic plants growing on sand and gravel layers). These have been proven to remove most of the hydrocarbons from produced
water – and once the water is free of hydrocarbons, the focus of the experiment moves to seeing how well the plants can tolerate its salinity. Early results suggest that cotton can thrive in a low saline environment, whereas hemp is not so well adapted.
Now that promising results have been obtained in the greenhouse, TOTAL plan to scale up its de-oiling operations to the field. TOTAL also plans further studies of the salinity tolerance of other commercial crops, in order to develop a range of plants that can be grown in these conditions.
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http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:UtnX6NDvXDQJ:www.envsec.org/docs/envsec_ashgabat_meeting_notes_2007_final.doc+%22oil+drilling%22+%22water+consumption%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us
A contribution from KAZAKHSTAN was delivered by Mr. S. Ahmetov. He outlined and discussed the following issues: 18 September 2007, Ashgabat
Brief overview of Caspian provinces: Atyrau and Mangystau
Atmospheric and water pollution by the energy sector and industries, including flooded oil wells and spills (mostly at province level)
Soil contamination by oil drilling/processing residues (mostly in Mangystau province)
Radioactive waste, especially Koshkar-Ata
Threats to marine biodiversity (sturgeon and seals dies-offs, invasive species)
Coastal development issues (fluctuating sea levels, desertification, military and U-sites, Tukhlaya Balka waste pond)
Drinking water shortage and poor quality, health concerns
Nature conservation efforts (remediation of oil spills and soil restoration, automatic stations for environmental monitoring and storm predictions, monitoring of sturgeons, constructing a new fish plant, mapping of protected areas in the Northern Caspian Sea, strengthening of environmental legislation)
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Specialization of local economy (oil, chemicals) and loss of traditional community lifestyle
Dependency of livelihoods on sea resources and lack of opportunities for alternative income
Asymmetric environment and security issues in Turkmenistan (marine bioresources) and Kazakhstan (energy development and industrial pollution)
Restoration of natural breeding grounds for fish resources, introduction of environmentally sustainable aquaculture, and increasing marine protected area network
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http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:tO1d8zpUWuQJ:www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/energy/pdf/04-CrudeOil.pdf+%22oil+drilling%22+%22water+consumption%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=28&gl=us
Crude oil production and refining also can resultin some water consumption, requiring up to 2,500 gallons per Btu of energy produced, depending onproduction methods. (per Btu?)
THE ENERGY REPORT •MAY 2008 Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
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http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2006/05/ebb_flow_antarctic_subglacial_plumbing_system.html“Ultra-precise measurements were taken using radars on the European Space Agency ERS-2 satellite to examine in detail small changes in the surface of some of the oldest, thickest ice in Antarctica. The satellite found synchronous changes in the surface height separated by 290 kilometres [sic.].”
The scientists argue that the only possible explanation of these changes is that a large flow of water must have occurred beneath the ice from one subglacial lake into several others. The finding re-invigorates old speculations that Lake Vostok, which contains 5,400 cubic kilometers of water — “equivalent to London’s water consumption over 5,000 years — may have generated huge floods that could reach the coast.
The latest research raises the prospect that the same thing could happen again, though any discharge would probably take place over a period of months and would change sea level by less than a centimeter.
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Why is this significant? Let’s backtrack. The subglacial lakes of Antarctica are regarded as "time capsules" of the period when the continent began to freeze over. Years ago, researchers found unexpected evidence of a great lake of liquid water in the bedrock deep below 30 million years’ of ice at the Russian Vostok research station, the most isolated manned research outpost on Earth. Lake Vostok is the largest of more than 70 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Since subglacial lakes in Antarctica were first identified in the 1960s, more than 150 have been discovered; though it is thought thousands may exist, as much of the bed of Antarctica remains un-surveyed.
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http://dieoff.org/page136.htmAlong with land and energy supplies, we take water supplies for granted and often forget that all vegetation requires and transpires massive amounts of water. For example, a corn crop that produces about 7,000 kg/ha of grain will take up and transpire about 4.2 million liters/ha of water during just one growing season (Leyton, 1983). To supply this much water to the crop, not only must 10 million liters (1,000 mm) of rain fall per hectare, but it must be evenly distributed during the year and especially during the growing season.
Of the total water currently used in the United States, 81% is used in agriculture while the remainder is needed for industry and for public use (USWRC, 1979). In the future, the rate of U.S. water consumption is projected to rise both because of population growth and because of greater per capita use (USWRC, 1979; CEQ, 1983). The rapid increase in water use already is stressing both our surface and groundwater resources. Currently, groundwater overdraft is 25% higher than its replenishment rate (USWRC, 1979) with the result that our mammoth groundwater aquifers are being mined at an alarming rate. In addition, both surface and groundwater pollution have become a serious problem in the United States, and concern about the future availability of pure water is justified (CEQ, 1980).
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The Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Jul., 1993), pp. 657-664 (article consists of 8 pages)
Chemical Bird Repellents: Possible Use in Cyanide Ponds, by Larry Clark and Pankaj S. Shah © 1993 Allen Press.
Abstract
Regulatory agencies are pressuring the mining industry to protect wildlife from mortality associated with the consumption of dump leachate pond water containing cyanide. Using European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) as an avian model, we tested the effectiveness of 5 chemical bird repellents at reducing consumption of pond water containing cyanide. The repellents, which were previously shown to be good bird repellents, were: o-aminoacetophenone (OAP), 2-amino-4,5-dimethoxyacetophenone (2A45DAP), methyl anthranilate (MA), 4-ketobenztriazine (4KBT), and veratryl amine (VA). Despite the high pH (10.6) and presence of chelating metals, conditions which we hypothesized might destroy the activity of repellents, each of the additives reduced pond water intake relative to controls for up to 5 weeks. The rank order (from best to worst) of repellents was: OAP, 2A45DAP, VA, MA, and 4KBT, although only OAP and 4KBT differed at the P 0.05 level. These candidate repellents hold promise as a strategy to reduce bird losses at cyanide ponds and should be tested in the field.
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http://info.lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1968/19680420.html-DATE-19680420-YEAR-1968-DOCUMENT_TYPE-SPEECH-AUTHOR-
Fidel CASTRO-HEADLINE-COMMEMORATES GIRON VICTORY-PLACE-PLAYA GIRON
-SOURCE-DOMESTIC RADIO AND TV-REPORT_NBR-
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http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=116&subid=155&contentid=3426U.S. Senate | Testimony | April 3, 2001/National Energy Policy Regarding Development of Domestic Oil and Gas Resources/ Testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources/ By David J. Hayes
[David J. Hayes. is the former Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior. He is currently a partner at the Washington D.C. law firm of Latham & Watkins.] /......... Endnotes:
1. In previous testimony before this Committee, on April 5, 2000, I outlined the reasons why it is appropriate to continue to honor the long-standing restriction on exploration and production activities in the Arctic Refuge. The area proposed for drilling is the coastal plain that has been called the "biological heart" of the Refuge because it is the primary calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. Unlike the Prudhoe Bay area, the coastal plain narrows significantly in the Arctic Refuge, inviting a direct conflict between the untouched wilderness and proposed oil and gas drilling, pipeline infrastructure, and related industrial activities. In addition, because it appears that oil and gas reserves in the Arctic Refuge are spread out in several pools, rather than in one large formation like Prudhoe Bay, additional "footprints" and pipeline connections may be required to develop oil and gas resources in the area. Finally, water resources are much more limited in the coastal plain area of the Arctic Refuge, as compared with the Prudhoe Bay region. Substantial water consumption is required for oil and gas activities; utilizing the limited available water supplies would likely negatively impact the existing ecosystem. (The construction of ice roads requires approximately 1.35 million gallons of water per mile and 30,000 gallons of water per day is necessary to support a drilling rig. Exploratory wells require approximately 15 million gallons of water per well.)
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http://waterbrief.businessroundtable.org...24-be2caf32bbf0· Chevron, El Segundo, California, refinery now takes 8 million gallons per day of reclaimed municipal wastewater – with 4 million gallons going to cooling tower makeup water, and 4 million gallons a day to boiler feed water. Reclaimed water now accounts for some 80 percent of the overall water consumption at the refinery. (IPIECA, 2005)
· Chevron, Richmond, California, refinery currently uses 3 million gallons per day of reclaimed water in its cooling towers. The refinery also is exploring the possibility of using another 3 million gallons a day as boiler feedwater, which would see its overall consumption of reclaimed water account for more than 50 percent of daily usage. (IPIECA, 2005)
· Chevron, California: In an award-winning water conservation and reuse program, Chevron is helping supply its neighbors in the Central Valley with supplemental irrigation water. The water is a by-product of oil drilling operations in the giant Kern River oil field in the San Joaquin Valley, surrounded by 45,000 acres of grape, citrus, and almond farms along the Central Valley. About half the 40 million gallons of water produced from the oil field each day is supplied to local farmers via pipeline or canal and local water authorities. The remaining 20 million gallons per day are used by Chevron in its operations for steamflood. Chevron treats and monitors water before it leaves the oil field to ensure it is suitable for agricultural use. Water passes through specialized equipment that removes all but trace amounts of oil and solids. The entire operation is approved and administered by the Regional Water Quality Control Board through a federal pollution discharge permit. In 1996 Chevron and the Cawelo Water District received an Award for Distinguished Service in Environmental Planning from the State Water Resources Control Board. (IPIECA, 2005)
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Where Is Water Critical to the Petroleum Industry Business Value Chain and What Is Its Water Intensity?
Description of Value Chain and Water Uses, Wastewater Discharges
Major Purpose for Water Use: Large amounts of water are used for oil production through water and steam flooding of reservoirs, removing heat from energy-intensive processes, chemical reactions, and facilities wash down.
Types of Water Use: Processes require consumptive water use from cooling tower evaporation, return-flow use from steam condensate and cooling tower blow down, and process wastewater discharge.
Challenges Regarding Water Use: There is an extreme use of cooling water and steam. Process water requires treatment prior to discharge or reuse.
How Challenges Are Best Met: Fresh water consumption can be reduced through recovery and treatment of boiler and cooling tower blow down, reuse of process water for other processes and reclamation and use of produced water in oil field operations. (Source: Byers, et al., 2002)
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http://waterbrief.businessroundtable.org/News/http://waterbrief.businessroundtable.org/Default.aspx....
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http://www.freepatentsonline.com/CCL-405-p164.htmlUnited States Patent 5018576
Abstract:A method is provided for in situ decontamination of contaminated subsurface area by injection of steam into injection wells and withdrawing liquids and vapors from extraction wells under subatmospheric pressure whereby steam is passed through the contaminated area in an essentially horizontal direction. After a substantial portion of the contamination has been removed in this manner, the injection of steam is ceased, but the extraction at subatmospheric pressure is continued, to volatilize and remove the residual water and contaminants trapped in the pores of the soil. The steam injection may be periodically resumed to reheat the area and to replenish the water in the pores.
United States Patent 5017289
Abstract:The present invention is a process for in situ biodegradation of spilled hydrocarbons. The process involves drawing oxygen into a hydrocarbon contaminated zone. A borehole is drilled into the contaminated zone and gas is evacuated at high rates out of the borehole to thereby draw oxygen from the earth's surface and through the contaminated zone. Surprisingly, the carbon dioxide concentration in the evacuated gas remains high even at the high flow rates. The rate of gas evacuation in the present process is maintained sufficiently high so that the hydrocarbon biodegradation rate is within at least 50% of the maximum hydrocarbon biodegradation within the zone. The process can be applied to both porous and nonporous soils having relatively low water and gas permeability.
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http://www.upi.com/International_Securit...worrisome/5920/Analysis: Energy's water demands worrisome [April 24, 2008]
While the renewable front-runners align with environmental goals, the last two spots may seem troublesome. Fossil fuel thermoelectric plants use an average of 1,100 gallons of water for every British thermal unit of energy produced, but nuclear power plants use more than double that amount at 2,400 gallons. As the most widespread carbon-neutral power source today, this could present a problem if water becomes seriously limited.
But the study needs to be put in context before judgments about nuclear are passed, said Tony Pietrangelo, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade organization for the industry.
"Power production is not a significant consumer of water, especially compared to agriculture," Pietrangelo told UPI.
In fact, the power sector only accounts for 3 percent of daily energy consumption in the United States, while agriculture gobbles up about 81 percent, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. So although power production uses quite a bit of water, it consumes very little. Given this low number, greater weight should be placed on carbon emissions than on water usage, Pietrangelo said.
"In the overall scheme of things, 3 percent is a small fraction," he said. "But, from the carbon standpoint, CO2 emissions (from power generation) can be a major contributor to greenhouse gas levels."
For many, though, water remains a serious concern, including Tamim Younos, a research professor at Virginia Tech and co-author of the study.
"Ten to 15 years down the road, if we keep doing what we're doing (with water and energy), it will not be sustainable," Younos said.
Hahahaha. Oh, ...never mind.
