Health, Safety and Environmental Risk Mitigation for a Thermal Oil Recovery PilotFacility in Trinidad

摘要

Enhanced Oil Recovery projects are strategic investmentrninitiatives planned when oil prices are high enough to supportrneconomic profitability. The Upper Morne L’Enfer (UMLE)rnpilot thermal project, within the Forest Reserve oilfield inrnTrinidad, is the current thermal EOR activity. Within the lastrnten years, health, safety and environment laws and regulationsrnhave evolved and are now more stringently applied andrnpracticed. The Forest Reserve field houses many sensitivernforested environments. The surface operations include clearingrnand construction of a site for fluid storage, testing and therngenerator.rnDuring the project-planning phase, an Environmental ImpactrnStatement (EIA) and a Hazard Operability (HAZOP) Studyrnwere conducted to acquire Environmental ManagementrnAuthority and Ministry of Energy and Energy Industryrnapprovals and address potential safety and environmental risksrnassociated with the project. Baseline data was extracted fromrnan Environmental Impact Assessment that was recentlyrnconducted for drilling sixty wells in the same area.rnIntegrating the environmental baseline into the HAZOP studyrnserved to identify and rank both potential environmental andrnsafety hazards, which in turn permitted Petrotrin to prioritizernrisk mitigation strategies. All parties involved in the riskrnassessments agreed that the team approach used in thernHAZOP study permitted a more efficient and effective forumrnto identify and mitigate both safety and environmental risks asrncompared to combining results from individual assessments.rnThis paper describes how the project’s potential safety andrnenvironmental risks were assessed and mitigated. The successrnin minimizing the risk associated with these hazards serves torndemonstrate that oil and gas operations can coexist withrnsensitive environments.