A MAJOR CLEAN-UP

For more than two months the SOCAR Energy company has been fighting the fire at the Bulla-Daniz [Bulla-Deniz] field, and, having successfully fulfilled this task, even embarked on the production of gas from the emergency well.

While during this period the oil and gas community of the country was deeply troubled by the failing well and many months of specialists' efforts, the public was mostly concerned over the scope of the environmental damage inflicted by the fire outbreak and whether or not environmental specialists had become involved in eliminating the consequences of the blaze.

Accordingly, more questions have begun to arise regarding compliance with environmental safety regulations during oil and gas production operations carried out under SOCAR. The company's experts brought relative clarity to those questions during a two-day international conference, "A global outlook on the issues of environmental protection in the oil industry", which was held in Baku last week. 

Made it without much trouble 

So, here's a little bit from the latest history:  Late on August 17 a fire broke out at the exploration well No. 90 on the water jacket No. 29 in the north-eastern wing of the Bulla-Daniz field. At 11 p.m., during drilling work at the depth of 5,868 meters, gas blowouts began at the well. The emergency team took all the necessary measures to prevent the ejections. However, at 11.30 p.m., gas began to gush out of the well and fire broke out. 62 workers at the platform were evacuated to safety, and, fortunately, there were no casualties. However, extinguishing the fire turned out to be a task that is not so easy and is time-consuming. And it wasn't until late October that an announcement came that as a result of joint efforts by SOCAR specialists and US company Boots & Coots the process of installing anti-gushing equipment was completed at the mouth of the well, and it was completely taken under control, as a result of which the fire was put out. Shortly thereafter SOCAR even began supplying gas to the system of the emergency well, the daily flow-rate of which is 1.2-1.3 million cubic meters of gas and 200 tons of condensate.

Thus, from the industrial viewpoint, significant damage was successfully prevented. However, SOCAR Vice President Xosbaxt Yusifzada said SOCAR intends to build a new platform at Bulla-Daniz where the existing one is located and to carry out drilling from there.

"Given the reserves of the block at the field where the well showed a very significant flow-rate, a new platform will be built. Reserves of the new block where the high result was achieved are estimated at 10bn cubic meters of gas," Yusifzada said.

Another issue is the negative impact of the fire upon the environmental situation with the mentioned deposit and the increased ejection of harmful gases into the atmosphere, which definitely occurred. This matter was of concern for many since the very first day after the accident. Certainly, accidents at gas deposits are less hazardous for the environment than those occurring at oil-bearing structures (we still clearly remember the accident in the Gulf of Mexico when an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil platform caused a major oil spill in US history, which was one of the biggest man-made disasters in terms of adverse environmental impact).

However, accidents at gas deposits may also cause pollution of the nearby waters, the atmosphere, etc.

Azer Aliyev, the head of SOCAR's Department for the Environment, told R+ that since the very first day after the accident at Bulla-Daniz occurred a plan of environmental activities was drawn up, and according to that plan several monitoring stations were set up whence measurements of potential changes in the composition of seawater and air in the accident zone have been carried out. SOCAR specialists took samples of maritime sediment, benthos, as well as phytoplankton and zooplankton from seawater; the physical and chemical indicators of the upper and lower layers of water were determined as well.

"Based on the results of the ongoing environmental research and monitoring you can say that the accident had no impact on the composition of seawater in the coverage zone, while the impact on the air composition was very minimal," Azer Aliyev said.

According to the SOCAR official, a certain ejection of carbon dioxide into the air as a result of the flaring at the well is undeniable, but on a global scale its level was minute and even raised no eyebrows in the Caspian littoral states.

"As a result of the accident, on the basis of an appeal from the Kazakh side, SOCAR provided sufficiently detailed information regarding the environmental situation in the accident zone, which raised no questions on the part of the inquiring side, which was fully satisfied by the plan of environmental action which is being implemented," he said.

Problems and their solution 

Though the Bulla-Daniz accident did not prove to be much of a painstaking ordeal, it turned out to be another weighty argument for heeding attention of the pertinent entities to the issues regarding the adherence to environmental norms in oil and gas extraction. Besides, another large-scale problem for Azerbaijan today is clean-up and reclamation of oil-polluted land.

According to Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Huseynqulu Bagirov, during the Soviet period the extractive industry was inflicting tremendous damage to the environment. The development and extraction of natural resources was being carried out without relevant measures aimed at protecting nature, and, as a result, Azerbaijan inherited from the USSR the land plots contaminated with oil waste.

Currently, the minister says, SOCAR is taking scalable steps to purify the oil-polluted areas and rehabilitate the environment on the Abseron Peninsula and the entire coast of the Caspian Sea.

"Throughout the period of oil production in Azerbaijan a total of 1.5 billion tons of oil has been extracted, including onshore," Bagirov said. "It is impossible to tackle the scope of the environmental damage in the country inflicted as a result of this on account of inconsiderable funds. As a result of oil extraction on the Abseron Peninsula and the surrounding areas, during the period of the USSR's existence, 35,000 hectares of territory had been polluted and a particular grave situation emerged on 15,000 hectares of that land. SOCAR is therefore taking intensified measures to clean up the polluted territories. In this regard, activities on laying new parks, and collection and recycling of oil waste have been implemented."

In the meantime, SOCAR head Rovnaq Abdullayev said that as a result of the work done, the emissions of associated gases into the atmosphere at the offshore oil and gas fields Gunasli and Oil Rocks have been reduced by 560m cubic meters. According to him, BP jointly with SOCAR has also carried out a number of activities that have allowed reducing the bulk of flared gas at the block of oil and gas fields Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli [Azari-Ciraq-Gunasli] and at the Sangachal oil terminal.

"This, in turn, led to an increase in the volume of associated gas transferred by the ВР company," he said.

Abdullayev also pointed to the positive impact on the environmental situation of the construction of a new oil and gas refining and petrochemical production complex in Azerbaijan. According to him, for this reason dismantling of the existing oil refineries is planned. The new facility will also positively affect the environmental situation in Sumqayit, a city where chemical production facilities have been based since the Soviet times.

According to Azer Aliyev, passing a law on environmental impact assessment in Azerbaijan will allow toughening measures aimed at preventing oil and gas pollution and improving the environmental situation.

"We have joined relevant international conventions, but having such a law in the country will allow increasing the accountability of enterprises and toughening the requirements for the process of preparing reports on social and environmental impact," he said. According to the SOCAR official, the new draft law meets international standards and requirements, which apply with regard to such impact assessments.

According to him, clean-up of territories after the dismantling of the oil refineries operating in Baku requires a special approach and this is a more complicated process than purification of oil-polluted land. The project on cleaning the contaminated soil located under two oil refineries of SOCAR, the state oil company, will be drafted on the basis of proposals to be made by the environmental consultant for the construction of the new complex.

Another important project in this respect will be the construction of a center on waste recycling and management. The creation of the new center, which will allow arranging the processing, storage and other operations involving waste that emerges during production in the oil and gas industry, is envisioned in lieu of the existing facility occupying 35-hectare space, which is located in the Qaradag district of Baku. As SOCAR's Vice President on environmental issues, Rafiq Huseynzada, said earlier, the center will be built to process mainly oil and drill cuttings and fossil water. The project is estimated at 60m dollars, and SOCAR and BP will each co-fund 50 percent of it. The waste recycling center is expected to be operational as early as in 2014. 

Evidently, SOCAR's environmentalists assure that the outstanding problems are being solved consistently and this sphere is under tight control. After all, we shouldn't forget that no matter how important the oil and gas sector is for Azerbaijan's current economy, any environmental failures in this regard could become a headache for many generations of Azerbaijanis.