WSSD Report FINAL! - OGP

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THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY FROM RIO TO JOHANNESBURG AND BEYOND Water management Water management Background Despite a global annual renewable volume of 41,000 cubic kilometres, freshwater is a scarce resource in many countries—particularly in its potable form. An estimated 1.1 billion people around the world lack access to safe water supplies. Continuing population growth is likely to make this problem even more acute, with conflicting demands for limited local and regional supplies. The UN estimates that water used by people is likely to increase by 40 per cent in the next 20 years, with growing urban and industrial sectors consuming more of the water previously allocated to agriculture and ecosystems. Currently, eight per cent of the world’s freshwater demand is for human health and sanitation purposes. Industry as a whole currently accounts for 20 per cent of all freshwater withdrawals, compared to agriculture, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent. Though no quantitative estimates of the oil and gas industry’s global use of freshwater are yet available, the total is likely to be a small proportion overall. However, in some parts of the world—desert areas in particular—our operations can be in conflict with the needs of other users. Overall, there is a concern that a decline in water available for irrigation will reduce food self-sufficiency, push the world’s total import needs beyond exportable supplies, and so create political and social instabilities in areas with food debits. Given this background, it is hardly surprising that the politics of water management are changing. The topic is high on the agenda in many United Nations forums. Key frameworks being addressed by the oil and gas industry include water resources assessment, drinking water supply, and sanitation and water use efficiency. Industry response Our ability to find water comes naturally.This skill involves much the same disciplines as finding sub-surface deposits of oil and gas. Near-surface geological information that comes with our exploration for deeper hydrocarbon formations often provides knowledge about previously unknown and untapped groundwater sources. Similarly, our experience in treating water to ensure its purity before being discharged to sea or injected into a reservoir gives us further opportunities to help local communities. In a number of cases, reed bed filters are used to naturally clean produced water, eliminating the need for additional processing technology. The resulting water can be used as a vital source of irrigation for local agriculture. In addition, produced water, if carefully managed, can be discharged to create environmentally important wetland habitats. Refineries have taken a very comprehensive approach to water management.Water management includes water procurement and treatment for process use, and effective in-plant source control and housekeeping measures to recycle, reuse, treat and discharge. Measures such as utilizing recycle systems that use water more than once can greatly reduce the volume required. Process modifications, such as replacement of barometric condensers, have reduced water consumption and contamination. End of pipe treatment uses best-demonstrated technologies currently available to manage and minimize the impact of the discharges to the aquatic environment. 68
CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Water management Actions speaking louder than words Case studies on water management Helping Yemeni neighbours find water A green boost for the Caspian Nexen is supplying funding and water management expertise to communities in the arid Hadramaut region of Yemen. Nexen Inc. has been operating in the extremely arid Hadramaut region of Yemen since the early 1990s. During that time they have enjoyed dual success in drilling for hydrocarbons for their shareholders and finding water for the surrounding communities. Participants in the programme contribute what they can to the projects—often in the form of labour or locally available building materials. This ensures that they have a stake in making the projects sustainable over the long-term. Nexen’s contribution to the community has taken a variety of forms. In addition to supplying the necessary geophysical data and $2 million in funding, the company has transferred valuable technical expertise to Yemen’s national water resource management agencies. Plans are being developed to extend this knowledge as the basis for a larger scale community water programme in Yemen under the auspices of the UN Global Compact. More than 20 villages have benefited from assistance with the drilling of new water wells and the supply of pumps, generators, reservoirs and distribution systems to gain maximum advantage from large supplies of potable groundwater undiscovered before Nexen came onto the scene. Water samples turned green by single-celled algae will help researchers at the first environmental laboratory in Azerbaijan equipped to international standards determine how oil field discharges affect the inland sea’s environment. Established at the initiative of the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), the lab is run by Kvaerner subsidiary Environment and Resource Technology (ERT). ERT, in turn, is working closely with local scientists as well as experts from abroad. Together they are helping to put Azerbaijan on a higher plane in the world of ecological science. One of the lab’s first projects has been analysis of seabed samples from the Shah Deniz exploration area. The studies show that molluscs, insects, crustaceans, worms and larvae live in Caspian waters as deep as 700 metres. If oil discoveries are made and developed in Shah Deniz, such information will be vital in determining how operations are affecting the marine environment. Other jobs for the lab include environmental impact assessments for oil companies as well as the Azeri authorities, studying the effects of oil industry discharges on the marine environment and planning carefully controlled waste disposal. The ERT lab in Azerbaijan is planned as the first of several in the Caspian states. According with desert priorities In the desert of south-eastern New Mexico, ground water is a far more precious substance than natural gas. In recognition of this fact, Marathon Oil Corporation is helping to conserve fresh groundwater supplies by means of innovative treatment technology 69
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