Health, Safety and Environmental Costs and Chemical Selection in the Oilfield Industry: A Method for Informed Decisions During Project Planning

Abstract

The oilfield industry uses vast amounts of chemicals to find and produce hydrocarbons. Chemical choices can significantly influence the health, safety and environmental consequences and risks of an oil well construction project. Each consequence and risk comes with a price tag. To select the most cost-effective chemical, the effect of chemical hazard on overall project economics must be included in assessments. Available methods can be laborious and seldom cover all health, safety and environmental consequences. Overall health, safety and environmental cost effects of chemical choice have not been translated into practical tools and thus the health, safety and environmental costs have rarely been calculated for oil well construction. This chapter describes a new method and accompanying tool for assessing overall costs of chemical use. It combines predicted health, safety and environmental cost at risk with direct operational cost consequences of chemical hazard profiles. The method allows easy comparison of overall cost attributable to chemical choice. Comparing two high-density completion brines, a key consideration was to create a practical tool that allows environmental management accounting principles to be used as inputs into the project planning and purchasing stage. The approach developed represents a significant advance in making environmental management accounting principles easily accessible for everyday decision-making in the oilfield industry.