Hazard Management Considerations for Sour Gas Development During Concept Selection

Abstract

Abstract A systematic hazard management approach was used to identify, assess and mitigate hazards at the conceptual design stage of a large onshore sour gas development in Abu Dhabi. The potential environmental impact of sulphur block production and poor prospects of a sulphur market led to a concept involving injection of dense phase acid gas back into the formation. Significant Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) challenges were addressed relating to the scale of the sour gas development which included the gathering, processing and injection of sour/acid gas containing 33% – 80% H2S. Quantitative Risk Assessment and H2S dispersion calculations were performed to evaluate the risk reduction effectiveness of specific HSE design considerations including material selection, pipeline design, pipeline routing, well design and the location of the processing facility and sour/acid gas wells. These HSE design considerations were integrated into the concept selection. Best industry practices in design and operation of sour gas facilities and emerging technologies in leak detection were adopted as a minimum standard to minimize the HSE risks.