Publications

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an international standardized method, developed from chemical engineering principles and energy analysis, which is able to provide a comprehensive view of the environmental consequences from or cradle to the grave (Arena et al., 2003). In the upstream oil and gas industry, one of the main operation activities that can potentially impact the environment is drilling. The main issue of the rig operation is the solid waste handling such as drilling cuttings from synthetic oil base mud (SOBM) or water based mud (WBM). LCA is generally considered as one of the environmental management tools that can be used to obtain an objective quantification of environmental impacts related with different solid waste management scenarios. This paper assesses the environmental impacts of various solid waste management options that could be applied in VICO’s operations. An analytical comparison from several possible scenarios are reported with referring to environmental impact categories including GHG and air emission, water -discharge, resources consumption, toxicity and other environmental related impacts. The qualitative quantification of those impacts is based upon a literature review on the solid waste treatment, field data collection and document review. The results include the relative advantages and disadvantages of different management schemes and some possible suggested improvements in solid waste management. Keywords: Drilling Cuttings, Qualitative Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Impact