Relationship of Drilling Waste Management and the Environmental

During oil and gas exploration process, the most unwanted effect would be the deposit of drilling cuttings. Modern well drilling will produce several kinds of drilling waste, for example drilling sewage, material packages and so on. Well among them the most commonly seen would be the rock cuttings from well.

Before 1980s, drilling waste treatment is seldom considered by oil and gas operating companies; generally speaking, those drilling waste would be disposed directly to the sea when performing offshore operations; while onshore drilling waste would be buried deep under the ground. When it comes to the 1980s and 1990s, as the environment protection concept is spreading all over the world, oil and gas industry operators as well as their supervisors have just began to realize the potential effect of drilling waste to the ambient environment, and as time goes by, more light is shed on drilling waste management issues.

Decades before people may think that it is difficult to drill horizontal wells, while as the new drilling technologies develops, horizontal direct drilling has attracted people’s attention. By directional well drilling and multi-branch well drilling on the same platform, the economical efficiency can be improved greatly. All the new processes have decreased the occupying area while reduced well construction cost and material assumption.

Also the production rate of single well is improved. The wide spread of environmental concepts, newly released emission standards and gradually increasing well drilling conditions have pushed oil and gas industry operators to develop more and more new compatible drilling fluids and drilling waste management techniques. Those drilling waste management techniques shall be applied to enhance environment protection work. Also recycling of drilling fluids especially the expensive oil base drilling fluid can effectively reduce drilling waste and drilling cost. As the application of more and more green& clean techniques, the exploration of oil& gas can be more effective while it can be environment friendly as well.