Comparison of the ParTrack mud/cuttings release model with field data

Abstract

The oil industry promotes the development of numerical models for prediction of impacts from their discharges to sea. A model for the simulation of the spreading and deposition of drilling mud and cuttings on the sea floor as well as the spreading of chemicals (and small-sized particles) in the water column has been developed. The simulation is based on a Lagrangian ‘particle’ approach, which means that the properties of the discharge are represented by moving ‘particles’ in the model domain. The initialization of the particles is based on the output from an Eulerian near field underwater plume model. In addition, the model applies external current fields for the horizontal advection of the particles. This paper presents a comparison between simulated and measured concentrations of barium (barite) in surface contaminated sediment in the vicinity of an oil production field. As a part of the regular surveillance of oil production sites on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the barium content in surface sediments is measured. These data might therefore serve as an opportunity for comparing simulation results with measured depositions of barium (barite) on the sea floor. The paper explains details in the comparison made between the measured barium concentrations in the sediment and the simulated deposition on the sea floor from the drilling of three exploration wells and 18 production wells off the west coast of Norway.