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Henry Tan's picture

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oseghale lucas okohue's picture

The concept for "large-scale offshore floating wind turbines was introduced by Professor William E. Heronemus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1972 . As of 2003, existing offshore fixed-bottom wind turbine technology deployments had been limited to water depths of 30 metres.  Lets discuss the possibilities of total dependence  on wind Farm Technology to power our platforms offshore in the near future since most companies are going green . Our opinion should reflect advantages or disadvantages in terms of economics, sustainability and water depths .

oseghale lucas okohue's picture

Hi tony.....This is an interesting area of  research. We know that the article regions are fragile and sensitive. Let's deviate a little looking at the risk involved to drill in the artic. From our safety and risk management course...we were taught that:

Risk = probability of failure/unexpected event occurring  .   the magnitude of the consequence of this unexpected event if it occur.

 Now going back to  this discussion about artic drilling. Scientist know little about what happen in the artic regions especially during an oil spill. Therefore if an oil spill  occur during the drilling stage or production stage their will be little response to mitigate it on time because of lack of knowledge to this environment. Note that in the artic the probability of failure events such as oil spill etc is high but the magnitude of this unexpected events if it occur can't be quantified because of lack of technical know how of this region.

From our above mathematical definition of risk. Risk can only be reduced by reducing the probability of failure event occurring to minimal and this can only be active through a proactive intergrity management system.

So therefore the risk to be incurred in the artic because of technical know  how of this region will be very high and this can lead to high incured debth by the company from bank loans, reputational damage etc And so I will suggest that drilling should be suspended in this region till  detailed risk assessment is carried out in this region. I therefore agree with Total for suspension of drilling activities in this region.

 

 

 

Note: the integrity management systems envoy ex.....,detailed hazard identification, risk assessment, planning,executing, monitoring I.e intervention, mitigation, testing, inspection and then repair

 

 

 

 

Lucas 

Tony Morgan's picture

Any good examples of the impact the media can have on our debate ?

Any examples of the media making a positive contribution or a detrimental impact to the debated areas ?

Exactly how does it influence us ? How do you reduce its influence and get to the TRUTH !

Ever been duped ?

What is the biggest falsehood / myth in science/engineering ? Who's statistics do we believe ? Half the lies we read are not true.....

regards
tony morgan

Andy Reid's picture

The biggest myth in the mainstream media has to be the constant exaggeration of how little oil there is left. The media would have you believe that by the time our current youngest generation reach retirement, there will be no fossil fuels remaining which is outright false. The amount of recoverable oil reserves worldwide is getting LARGER as we gather the technology and knowledge and understanding to extract and process it.

The laws of supply and demand state that since the more readily people believe there is little/no oil left, the more the oil is worth then there is no sign of this scaremongering trend turning around in the near future.

There is, however, one positive aspect of the media being so gung-ho about this argument, which is that it is pushing hard towards renewable energy NOW rather than when a "real" crisis is on our hands.

 

Andy Reid

Babawale Onagbola's picture

Again lucas, I slightly disagree with you. Man's survival, from creation has been based on innovation, learning from experiences and constantly pushing the limits of his existence to proffer solution to problems. I read that in february this year, the US department of Interior gave final approval for Shell to commence drilling operations in the Artic.

Now, you rightly mentioned that Risk is the product of the probability of failure and the consequences borne as a result of the failure. Therefore, risk reduction here would be reduction in the probability of failure by conducting robust and adequate risk assessment which SHELL has done. You are right in saying that a lot is yet to be known about the artic environment but this is why SHELL has prepared a robust safety case to identify potential risks and mitigation methods. They produced an oil spill response plan stating that they are prepared to drill a relief well within a few days of a blowout(a proess that took BP months to do after the Deep water Horizon accident), they are committed to having an onshore response team near the drilling rigs 24hours a day and 7 days a week during drilling operations and further promised that in the event of a major accident, its response fleet would be onsite within an hour. They futher agreed to limit drilling when whales were around and agreed to only drill between june and september when its warmer.(http://www.scribd.com/doc/102389435/Offshore-Oil-Drilling-in-the-Arctic). All these steps validate their committment to risk reduction to the barest minimum combined with a much needed surge in technological competence which the world needs now, eespecially as reserves in the north sea are being depleted by the day.

oseghale lucas okohue's picture

Hi Babawale Onagbola…..You are right to an extent that SHELL have done some hazard identification assessment, risk assessment on the artic  region and have some robourst risk mitigation plan. Like responding to  oil spill and drilling a relief well within a few days to mitigate the effect on the spot.Before we have a further discussion ponder on this for a minute: “As one WWF staffer has put it, an oil spill occurring in the Gulfis like a heart attack happening in a hospital — you haveeverything you need to be treated. A spill in the Arctic is like havinga heart attack on the North Pole — you’re on your own.”—TIME 5/12/2010 28Now, If you have done your research properly. You will come to an agreement with me that the artic is hypersensitive in nature. Its different from the normal deep water operation we are used to drilling in. Any oil spill in the artic has more tendency of spreading within a minutes and seconds. And if these occur, their will be severe treats to the marine environs and aquatic organism who lives their as oxygen supply will be cut off. It won’t take more than a day to see this catastrophic disaster  damaging  nesting grounds of millions of migratory birds and the home range of other animals that live there. It will also damage the ecosystem and kill many of the animals. Remember the tendency of oil spill spreading is greatest at the artic regions. So SHELL mitigation plan should be more robust to ensure zero oil spillage while drilling. Because any mistake will be catastrophic in respective of the number of relief wells to be sunk in to curtail the effect. The motto should be once done, once right.....


Further reading: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_Problems_of_Drilling_in_the_arctic_tundra#ixzz28TCBxacg
http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/02/pdf/ar...

Igwe Veronica Ifenyinwa's picture

Consumption of crude oil and environmental pollution can be minimized through the production of ethanol from Biomass. Bio-ethanol is suitable for the mixed fuel in the gasoline engine because of its high octane number and its low cetane number. Moreso, its high heat of vaporization impedes self-ignition in the diesel engine. So, ignition improver, glow-plug, surface ignition, and pilot-injection are applied to promote self-ignition by using diesel-bio-ethanol-blended fuel.

For many years now, many countries in the world have found it increasingly difficult to tackle major challenges associated with conventional energy sources. The new economic aspect originates from constantly growing world prices for oil and other traditional fuels worsen the problem of energy resource depletion and environmental pollution. That is why alternative sources of energy receive more and more attention today from governments of many countries around the world. Alternative energy, generated from renewable sources is treated as the way to lower the total cost of energy and to reduce the dependence from the imported energy resources.

Reference:
Progress in Bioethanol processing. Mustafa Balat, Havva Balat, Cahide
OZ (Science Direct: Progressing Energy and Combustion Science 34(2008)
55L-573.

xenios.ze's picture

Similar procedure to hydraulic
fracturing is the Carbon Capture Storage. Carbon Capture Storage plants includes
dangers regarding earthquakes. With the Carbon Dioxide high pressure injection causes
the reservoir to lose its pressure balance and therefore it increases its
pressure, which causes the rocks to break or allow slip on existing fault and
this can cause earthquakes. Because a magnitude 4 is very difficult to be
reached with CCS, the size of the earthquake that might occur is not big and
humans cannot sense it. A question that rises though is that if an earthquake
occurs, will the carbon dioxide escapes out of the reservoir? This question
cannot be answered easily but if we consider the example of an earthquake with
magnitude 6 that took place in Japan recently in a CCS plant there was no
carbon dioxide escape.

 

Therefore we can consider the carbon
dioxide injection as safe.

 

MSc Oil and Gas Engineering

Xenios Zenieris

xenios.ze's picture

Similar procedure to hydraulic
fracturing is the Carbon Capture Storage. Carbon Capture Storage plants includes
dangers regarding earthquakes. With the Carbon Dioxide high pressure injection causes
the reservoir to lose its pressure balance and therefore it increases its
pressure, which causes the rocks to break or allow slip on existing fault and
this can cause earthquakes. Because a magnitude 4 is very difficult to be
reached with CCS, the size of the earthquake that might occur is not big and
humans cannot sense it. A question that rises though is that if an earthquake
occurs, will the carbon dioxide escapes out of the reservoir? This question
cannot be answered easily but if we consider the example of an earthquake with
magnitude 6 that took place in Japan recently in a CCS plant there was no
carbon dioxide escape.

 

Therefore we can consider the carbon
dioxide injection as safe.

References : http://www.ccsassociation.org/faqs/can-the-injection-of-carbondioxide-le...

 

MSc Oil and Gas Engineering

Xenios Zenieris

Ambrose Ssentongo's picture

In further support of your discussion Xenois, CO2 once stored underground is in the liquid form due to the pressures underneath, and also its physico chemical immobilisation mechanisms make it trappable underground for hundreds of millions of years 1 just like other hydrocarbons, gases and fluids. The criteria used is rather exhaustive and in general, geological storage sites should have (1) adequate capacity and injectivity, (2) a satisfactory sealing caprock or confining unit and (3) a sufficiently stable geological environment to avoid compromising the integrity of the storage site. Before a storage site is chosen it thus goes through a lot of analysis and evidence has to be identified which proves capacity of the formation to store gases like CO2. CO2 is stored in formations which have likewise trapped gases and/or hydrocarbons for millions of years without leakage and are thus proven to be able to trap it. The average annual release rate as fraction of total gas stored is about 10-5 over the last 25 years and even this estimate is not a continuous release rate.1

CO2 leakage is thus very unlikely for rightly chosen storage sites.

1. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/srccs/srccs_chapter5.pdf

Michail.Sevasteiadis's picture

As Mr Zenieris has already mentioned above Carbon Capture and Storage is a procedure to store or dispose carbon dioxide into a formation. Generally, although CO2 is not considered a poisonous gas one of its main properties is to displace the air, because of their dense difference and therefore in high concentrations it can lead to choky atmosphere of the surrounding area.

Some safety issues that can be handled are related with the transportation and the injection of CO2, as there might occur failures in the system (valves, pipelines, etc) that could expose the workers to the gas.

Another issue is the possible weathering of the storage reservoir over the years that could cause a leakage to the surface. Although CO2 is being emitted from the ground in many areas globally, if a particular environment was previously free of carbon dioxide it could be affected with negative outcomes for its natural properties. For example if an aquifer is near the storage reservoir and there is a leakage, it could change the water properties.

Concluding we can spot that with extensive use of carbon dioxide storage, a need for managing and controlling the site is created, along with legislation that will enhance the whole procedure in terms of safety.

References:
1)Review of the Feasibility of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in the UK: http://www.cslforum.org/publications/documents/dti_review.pdf

2)Postnote Carbon Capture and Storage: http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~tamsinm/postpn238.pdf

Ambrose Ssentongo's picture

Further in regards to earthquakes resulting from CO2 injection because of effects of hydrofracturing, and fault activation, 

well, based on understanding of local and regional stresses in the earth’s crust, guidelines have been developed to 

prevent injection-induced microseismicity.1 

Now, regulatory agencies limit injection rates and pressures to avoid unintentional hydrofracturing. Microseismic 

monitoring is often done early in a project to establish operational parameters for injection. 1Carbon dioxide storage 

projects would operate under similar guidelines, thus eliminating concerns about causing earthquakes.1 

In addition, CO2-EOR and natural gas storage projects operate without generating significant seismic events.1 I think that 

carbon capture storage is so far being done as safely as is practicable.

1. CARBON DIOXIDE CAPTURE AND STORAGE, Assessment of Risks from Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Deep 

Underground Geological Formations by SALLY M.  BENSON of EARTH SCIENCES DIVISION, LAWRENCE BERKELEY 

NATIONAL LABORATORY, VERSION 1.0 , APRIL2, 2006

SanjayVyas's picture

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology includes capturing
carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power stations The CO2 is then
transported via pipelines and stored safely offshore in deep underground
structures such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs, and deep saline aquifers. CCS
in present world is one of the main options available for tackling global
climate change.
Handling of very large quantities supercritical CO2 can lead
to severe accidents and the safe handling of large quantities of carbon dioxide
(CO2) is an essential requirement of all Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
projects. Following are some of the significant hazards associated
with CCS;

·Asphyxiation Hazards resulting from loss of
containment, inadequate dispersion of CO2 from vents, pipeline
failure, etc. In adequate dispersion may lead to undetected formation of low
level cloud of CO2.

·CO2 Snow formation/ Low temperature embrittlement
hazards to plant, equipment and piping

·Acid solution formation in aqueous phase

·Degradation of seals and sealing compounds in
hydrocarbon industry

Design of equipment and piping handling supercritical CO2 requires
detailed risk assessment for its composition with and without impurities.

References

Safety in CO2 Capture, Transport and Storage

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/emissions/ccs/ccs.aspx

Sanjay Vyas-51234203

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