ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMICAL PROBLEMS IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Аннотация

In this article the main aspects of ecological and environmental problems in the oil and gas industry are provided. There considered environmental problems arising from hydrocarbon production. The efficiency of oil and gas production from oil shale is considered. Recommendations for effective production of oil and gas with minimal impact on the environment and highest profit for economy are made. Keywords: oil, gas, ecology, shale, industry. Several studies prepared and regularly updated by companies, government and non-governmental agencies, even if based on somewhat different economic growth assumptions agree on two main projections for the next 20 years: growth of energy consumption by about 35 percent to 40 percent and predominance of fossil fuels in the world energy matrix, with coal, natural gas and oil accounting for approximately 80 percent of energy supply. Currently global oil reserves and production are at 1.4 trillion barrels and 87 million b/d have been steadily growing respectively over the last decades. The main challenge will be not only to meet increasing demand, which estimations will reach about 110 million b/d by 2030, but, most importantly, to offset natural decline of current reservoir productivity. Even if a moderate decline rate of 3.5 percent per year is assumed, by 2030 production of reservoirs currently on stream will decrease to about half of today rate. In summary, production gap to be met with new field and reservoir developments is around 65 million b/d, a daunting task.[1] In the context of globalization, problems of ecology and rational use of natural resources are becoming increasingly important. The changes taking place in environment today affect negatively not only flora and fauna, but also human health. Over the past decades, in commissioning oil and gas fields, people have not thought about the consequences of intensive extraction of these natural resources. The great danger lies in the use of oil and gas as fuel. When these products are burned in the atmosphere, large amounts of carbon dioxide, various sulfur compounds, nitric oxide, etc. are released. A decrease in the amount of oxygen and increase in carbon dioxide content, in its turn, will affect climate change. Carbon dioxide molecules allow solar short-wave radiation penetrating the Earth atmosphere and trap the infrared radiation emitted by Earth surface. Atmospheric pollution is fraught with another danger and it reduces the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth surface. 78 Scientific research results in pandemic conditions (COVID-19) A large role in atmospheric pollution belongs to jet aircraft, cars. A modern jet liner absorbs 35 tons of oxygen and leaves inversion traces that increase cloud cover in crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It pollutes significantly the atmosphere and cars, which now number more than 500 million. There are various projects for creation of engines operating in other fuels. A considerable contribution to poisoning of the atmosphere is made by various plants, heat and power plants. A medium-power oil-fired power plant emits 500 tons of sulfur daily into the environment in the form of sulfur dioxide, which, when combined with water, turns into sulfuric acid and falls in the form of acid rains, which have high chemical activity. Atmospheric pollution with various harmful gases and solid particles leads to the fact that the air of large cities becomes life-threatening. A particular danger has deadly mists descending on large cities. People pollutes recklessly and water basins of the planet. For one reason or another, from 2 to 10 million tons of oil is annually discharged into the World Ocean. Aerial photography from satellites recorded that almost 30% of surface of the ocean is covered with oil film. Waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and their shores are especially polluted. A liter of oil deprives oxygen of 40 thousand liters of sea water. A ton of oil pollutes 12 square meters km of ocean surface. When its concentration in sea water in amount of 0.1-0.001 ml / l fish eggs die in a few days. At the presence of oil film on 1 ha of sea surface, more than 100 million fish eggs can die. There are a lot of sources of oil in the seas and oceans. These are accidents of tankers and drilling platforms, discharge of ballast and sewage water, bringing polluting components by rivers. Swedish and English specialists propose using old newspapers, pieces of wrapping, and scraps from paper mills to clean oil from sea oil. They are able to absorb 28 times of the amount of oil compared to their own weight thrown into water and crushed. Then the fuel from them is easily extracted by pressing. It is proposed to use such strips of paper placed in large nylon string bags to collect oil at sea at the site of tanker accident. The use of dispersants, special substances that bind oil, gives good results; processing of oil films with iron powder, followed by collection of sawdust with magnet.