Drill Cuttings Assessment and Remedial Options (0103)

OIL & GAS Drill Cuttings Assessment and Remedial Options Natural Gas Processing Facility, Bangladesh

Project Summary

Drill Cuttings Assessment and Remedial Options Natural Gas Processing Facility, Bangladesh

Project Value: £30,000 Key Project Elements  Intrusive Investigation of Drill Cutting wastes

 Appraisal of risk posed to human health and the environment

 Assessment of feasible remedial options

 Sustainable remediation option put forward

CRA was commissioned by an oil and gas company to determine the contaminant composition of waste drill cuttings stored at four gas processing installations in Bangladesh. The contaminant data was then used to undertake an appraisal of the potential risk posed to human health and the surrounding environment. Due to a significantly viable environmental risk being identified, CRA carried out an assessment of remedial options for the drill cuttings.

An intrusive investigation was undertaken of cuttings taken from historic drilling, which were stored in excavated pits at all four sites.

This investigation involved the delineation of the depth and extent of each cuttings pit using a hand auger. Samples were also collected using the hand auger and shipped to an accredited laboratory in the UK for chemical analysis.

The samples were submitted for solid and leachate analysis to allow comparison to accepted international and Bangladeshi criteria as part of a generic quantitative risk assessment (GQRA). The criteria were selected for the protection of surrounding agricultural and on-site industrial land uses. Certain contaminants were found to be present at concentrations that posed an unacceptable risk to the receptors; therefore various remedial options were examined.

The review of remedial options took into consideration the client’s own procedures for drill cutting waste, available guidance for the oil and gas industry and the limitations related to the sites being located in Bangladesh.

The remedial option recommended by CRA allows the drill cuttings to be treated and reused at the sites, offering a sustainable solution.

Ref: PS0103