Characterization of oil and gas waste disposal practices and assessment of treatment costs. Final report

This study examines wastes associated with the onshore exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the US. The objective of this study was to update and enhance the current state of knowledge with regard to oil and gas waste quantities, the potential environmental impact of these wastes, potential methods of treatment, and the costs associated with meeting various degrees of treatment. To meet this objective, the study consisted of three tasks: (1) the development of a production Environmental Database (PED) for the purpose of assessing current oil and gas waste volumes by state and for investigating the potential environmental impacts associated with current waste disposal practices on a local scale; (2) the evaluation of available and developing technologies for treating produced water waste streams and the identification of unit process configurations; and (3) the evaluation of the costs associated with various degrees of treatment achievable by different treatment configurations. The evaluation of feasible technologies for the treatment of produced water waste streams was handled in the context of comparing the level of treatment achievable with the associated cost of treatment. Treatment processes were evaluated for the removal of four categories of produced water contaminants: particulate material, volatile organic compounds, adsorbable organic compounds, and dissolved inorganic species. Results showed dissolved inorganic species to be the most costly to remove. The potential cost of treating all 18.3 billion barrels of produced water generated in a year amounts to some 15 billion dollars annually