International journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN:2313-626X

Frequency: 12
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 Volume 4, Issue 12 (December 2017), Pages: 83-88

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 Original Research Paper

 Title: Suspended solids transport simulation for Siakap North Petai oil and gas platform: Cost-effective and environmentally sustainable offshore disposal of wastes

 Author(s):  Su Yean Teh 1, *, Hock Lye Koh 2

 Affiliation(s):

 1School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
 2Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC), Sunway University, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Selangor, Malaysia

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2017.012.017

 Full Text - PDF          XML

 Abstract:

Offshore oil and gas exploration in deep water is more expensive compared to onshore. Strained by current low prices of crude oil, cost rationalization is essential for economic viability of oil and gas exploration offshore. Offshore exploration involves costly activities such as well drilling, well completion and testing as well as installation of flow lines and subsea facilities. Well drilling generates drill cuttings which may be disposed either onshore or offshore. Onshore disposal is not cost-effective and operationally complicated, and should be the option of last resort. More cost-effective offshore disposal of drill cuttings should therefore be utilized if it can be proven to be environmentally sustainable to the marine environment and ecosystems. This research was initiated to assess the environmental sustainability of offshore disposal of drill cuttings by means of model simulations. A critical concern in drill cuttings offshore disposal is the suspended solids (SS) created that might pose adverse impact to marine ecosystems. This paper presents the results of a simulation study by means of AQUASEA, developed by Vatnaskil Consulting Engineers, on the transport and fact of SS at an offshore oil and gas exploration platform in Siakap North Petai Field, off Sabah in the South China Sea. Simulated SS plumes subject to the dominant semi-diurnal tidal flows in the South China Sea and local eddies will be presented. Simulation results indicate that this offshore disposal of drill cuttings is environmentally sustainable at the current rates of well drilling. 

 © 2017 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords: Suspended solids disposal, Environmental sustainability, Oil and gas platform

 Article History: Received 11 February 2017, Received in revised form 23 September 2017, Accepted 4 October 2017

 Digital Object Identifier: 

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2017.012.017

 Citation:

 Teh SY and and Koh HL (2017). Suspended solids transport simulation for Siakap North Petai oil and gas platform: Cost-effective and environmentally sustainable offshore disposal of wastes. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 4(12): 83-88

 Permanent Link:

 http://www.science-gate.com/IJAAS/V4I12/Teh.html

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