Quantitative decision tools for system selection in environmentally friendly drilling Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • One of the petroleum industry's goals is to reduce the environmental impact during oil and gas drilling operations. To achieve this, a number of environmentally friendly drilling (EFD) technologies have been developed to varying degrees but few have been integrated into a field demonstrable drilling system compatible with ecologically sensitive areas. This paper proposes a technology evaluation method based on systems analysis that can be used for integrating current and new EFD technologies into an optimal EFD system. An optimisation scheme is suggested based on a combination of multi-attribute utility theory and exhaustively enumerating all possible technology combinations to provide a quantitative rationale and suggest the best set of systems for a given site. An application of the proposed approach is described by conducting a case study in Green Lake at McFaddin, TX. The main purpose of this case study is to test the proposed technology evaluation protocol in a real site and then to refine the protocol. This paper describes the results of the case study, which provided a more logical and comprehensive approach that maximized the economic and environmental goals of both the landowner and the oil company. 2011 Taylor & Francis.

published proceedings

  • CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS

author list (cited authors)

  • Yu, O., Guikema, S. D., Briaud, J., & Burnett, D.

citation count

  • 5

complete list of authors

  • Yu, O-Y||Guikema, SD||Briaud, J-L||Burnett, D

publication date

  • January 2011