Publications

The Mahakam Delta of Indonesia is a fragile ecosystem consisting of mangrove forests, villages and shrimp farms. In this sensitive environment Total E&P Indonésie (TI) is conducting drilling operations with six swamp barge rigs. Drilling activities are always confronted with numerous environmental issues as various types of waste, including oily drill cuttings and used drilling mud, are waste products of the process. With a commitment to minimise environmental impact and at the same time to comply with stringent regulations that were to take effect in 2006, TI launched a new waste management project in 2004.The project entailed modifying the drilling rigs, transporting the generated cuttings to a Waste Treatment Plant of 80,000 t/year capacity and treating the oily cuttings by Thermal Desorption. The Thermal Desorption technology was selected for its ability to deliver Oil On Cuttings (OOC) well below 1.0 percent and its high process rate. Project construction was initiated in March 2006 and the plant began operations in October 2006. Today the waste management plant is running at full capacity and is able to treat all the waste generated by the swamp rigs. On December 31, 2007 (after 15 months of operations), the plant had treated 92,000 metric tons of oily cuttings down to 0.1 to 0.3 percent OOC. In addition to the environmental benefit, thermal desorption technology has an added economical benefit because the oil removed from the cuttings is recovered and recycled. From the start of the project, the recovered oil, amounting to 7,600 m3 (valued at ± US$ 6.5 millions), significantly reduced the treatment costs. After more than a year of operations, the project has successfully handled the expected waste quantities while consistently delivering treated cuttings with far less than the targeted 1.0 percent OOC.