Oil Infrastructure Research Articles

Consolidating or Corrupting the Peace? The Power Elite and Amnesty Policy in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

After granting unconditional amnesty to militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta region in 2009, the Nigerian federal government launched a comprehensive peace-building program anchored on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) in a bid to arrest violent attacks on oil infrastructures. Puzzlingly, nearly a decade of costly DDR programming has not engendered sustainable peace in the region. This study, which draws on both primary and secondary sources of data, examines the resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta by problematizing the informal relations between power elites and youths. Analysis of responses from in-depth interviews with various stakeholders in the peace process reveals that politics in the region is embedded in and governed by the informal logic of patron–clientelism and corruption. As a result, the post-conflict peace-building mechanisms of amnesty and DDR programs designed to build peace through youth empowerment have been captured and corrupted by power elites. In their do-or-die struggles for power positions and oil revenues, the elites have criminalized some ex-militants by mobilizing them as thugs, kidnappers, and oil thieves, thus posing a huge threat to sustainable peace and democratic consolidation in the region. The study indicts political desperation, systemic corruption, poor policy execution, and weak public institutions for the impunity of the elites and criminalized youths. It recommends value re-orientation and strengthening of public institutions to mitigate corruption and social violence among leaders and followers alike.

Peculiarities of the use of siliceous raw materials of the Russian Far East in the integrated pipeline protection

Modern trends in the development of Russian oil and gas infrastructure are examined. The important role of the Far East in the transportation and export of oil is revealed. The main threats in the operation of pipelines are described. The integrated protection technology of pipeline surfaces is proposed. The structure and properties of local silicate raw material – diatomite – are studied. The technology of obtaining glass enamel coating is designed to protect the internal surface of the pipe. The phase composition, microstructure and properties of the coating are compared with analogues. The technology of foam glass production is designed to protect the external surface of the pipe. The foaming processes are studied; the properties and structure of the material are examined. The optimum ratio of raw materials is revealed. Recommendations on the application of the developed technology for integrated pipeline protection are given.

Effects of conventional oil wells on grassland songbird abundance are caused by presence of infrastructure, not noise

Understanding the mechanisms that explain why oil infrastructure has an effect on wildlife, and comparing effects of different types of infrastructure, is necessary for determining how we may minimize or mitigate those effects. We compared the abundances of five grassland songbird species at oil well sites with different pump mechanisms and power sources, and determined the effects of exotic vegetation, perch sites, and road densities. We compared effects of wells that were active with effects of wells that were turned off to evaluate whether effects of wells were caused by noise or human activity at wells. We conducted 800-m abundance transects at 42 sites twice per year in 2013 and 2014 in Alberta, Canada. Two species at risk, Baird's sparrows (Ammodramus bairdii) and Sprague's pipits (Anthus spragueii), had significantly lower abundances at all sites that contained oil infrastructure. However, there was little evidence that noise, human activity, or traffic explained these effects. Effects of active and inactive wells were the same, and grid-powered wells had a greater effect than did generator-powered wells, although generator-powered wells are louder. Our research suggests that reducing noise, human activity or traffic would not reduce the effects of wells on grassland songbirds, and, therefore, mitigation must focus on minimizing the extent of above-ground infrastructure.

Conflitos e negociações entre a indústria do petróleo e a conservação da Mata Atlântica no Litoral Norte de São Paulo, Brasil

Muitas áreas protegidas do planeta estão sob pressão de atividades de mineração e energia. Em relação à exploração e produção de petróleo e gás, existe uma forte correlação entre áreas de alta biodiversidade e formações geológicas que contêm hidrocarbonetos. Além disso, muitas áreas almejadas por esse setor se sobrepõem com áreas sensíveis, ecossistemas ameaçados e territórios indígenas. No Brasil, apesar de a maior parte da exploração e produção de petróleo e gás (cerca de 94%) ocorrer em alto mar (campos offshore), as atividades de tratamento e transporte ocorrem necessariamente em regiões costeiras e litorâneas. Essa infraestrutura petrolífera tem se instalado nas últimas décadas no altamente ameaçado bioma da Mata Atlântica e em seus ecossistemas costeiros associados. O presente artigo explora o conflito entre a expansão da atividade de petróleo e gás e a conservação da Mata Atlântica do Estado de São Paulo. A partir do conceito de arena, o artigo analisa o processo de licenciamento ambiental do Projeto Mexilhão da Petrobras, envolvendo exploração (offshore), tratamento e transporte de gás natural, no contexto do Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (PESM) no Litoral Norte de São Paulo. O trabalho destaca o papel e a importância das áreas protegidas como recursos de poder nas negociações. Por si só, a existência dessas áreas pode não ser suficiente para fazer frente às pressões das atividades petrolíferas, mas, sem dúvida, sua presença influencia nas tomadas de decisão e nos resultados dos processos de negociação. Do ponto de vista teórico-metodológico, este trabalho constata a relevância de análises multiatores e multiníveis para tratar do conflito e do processo decisório sobre empreendimentos de energia e a conservação da biodiversidade.

Rentierism and security privatisation in the Nigerian petroleum industry: assessment of oil pipeline surveillance and protection contracts

SUMMARYThis briefing examines rentierism and security privatisation in the Nigerian petroleum industry. It demonstrates how the awarding of oil pipeline surveillance and protection contracts, with little attention to organisational capacity of applicant companies, resulted in widespread discontent among militias and groups not recognised or rewarded by a contract. These groups then intensified attacks on oil infrastructures in the post-amnesty era. The authors' findings endorse the government's 2015 decision to terminate the contracts, while they recommend transparent and democratic management of oil wealth as a long-term solution to human insecurity in the Niger Delta.

Justification of integrated environmental and economic assessment of the impact actions in the field of oil and gas extraction

The aim of the welfare state, in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine is to ensure conditions for the growth of welfare of citizens. One of the major components in the well-being of civilized societies is to ensure that citizens and businesses the necessary energy. Energy development is the basis for enhancing the social and economic living standards of the population and competitiveness. The key to this goal should be a reliable, economically viable and environmentally sound needs of the population and the economy of energy products. It is important to identify the critical factors is a threat to the energy security of the national economy. The state of the energy sector of Ukraine is negatively affected by continued dependence on imports of Russian natural gas, petroleum products and fuel for power plants. Today such dependence on primary energy, including coal, has become a leverage to Ukraine on the part of the neighboring state. The loss of the fuel and energy complex, and areas for future development of hydrocarbon resources as a result of the annexation of the Crimea and the military operations in the east of the country, as well as the destruction of the oil and gas infrastructure in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, yielded additional new factors which significantly weakened the energy security of the country. Given the instability of strategic task for Ukraine, it is vital to achieve the highest possible level to ensure the economy’s own oil and gas resources, which, to a certain extent, will contribute to energy independence and savings of foreign exchange reserves of the country, as well as infrastructure development in the industry, tax revenues, creation of additional jobs.

Oil pollution in soils and sediments from the Northern Peruvian Amazon

Oil has been extracted from the Northern Peruvian Amazon for over four decades. However, few scientific studies have assessed the impacts of such activities in the environment and health of indigenous communities in the region. We have investigated the occurrence of petrogenic hydrocarbon pollution in soils and sediments from areas favoured as hunting or fishing grounds by local indigenous inhabitants. The study was conducted in one of the most productive oil blocks in Peru, located in the headwaters of the Amazon river. Soils and river sediments, in the vicinity of oil extraction and processing infrastructure, contained an oil pollution signature as attested by the occurrence of hopanes and steranes. Given the lack of any other significant source of oil pollution in the region, the sources of hydrocarbons are likely to be the activities of the oil industry in the oil block, from voluntary discharges or accidental spills. Spillage of produced water was commonplace until 2009. Moreover, petrogenic compounds were absent in control samples in sites far removed from any oil infrastructure in the oil block. Our findings suggest that wildlife and indigenous populations in this region of the Amazon are exposed to the ingestion of oil polluted soils and sediments. The data obtained supports previous claims that the local spillage of oil and produced waters in the water courses in the Corrientes and Pastaza basins could have eventually reached the main water course of the Amazon.

Challenges to Oil Spill Assessment for Seabirds in the Deep Ocean

We synthesize impediments for evaluating effects to seabirds from open ocean hydrocarbon releases. Effects on seabirds from ship discharges, spills, and well blowouts often are poorly detected and monitored far from land. Regulatory regimes for ocean spills can result in monitoring efforts that are not entirely transparent. We illustrate how interdisciplinary technologies address deficits that hamper individual or population level assessments for seabirds, and we demonstrate where emerging technologies might be engaged to bridge gaps in oil spill monitoring. Although acute mortality from direct oil exposure poses the greatest risk to seabirds, other hazards from light-attraction, flaring, collisions, chronic pollution, and hydrocarbon inhalation around oil infrastructure also may induce bird mortality in the deep ocean.

OILANDSCAPES. Agro-energy parks to create social inclusion in Adriatic-Ionian oil meshes

The paper explores the role of oil infrastructures (upstream, midstream, downstream) in the light of the imminent territorial restructuring due to the Third Industrial Revolution. New socio-economic and energetic dynamics are going to reshape the Second Industrial Revolution's landscapes. It will be necessary to overcome the common vision of oil infrastructures as punctual elements which scatter the territories, so as to recognize their potential as “oil meshes” spread over vast territories. This will contribute to define innovative local development scenarios, integrating socio-ecological dimensions to ancient oil infrastructures (OILANDSCAPES). The paper proposes “Agro-energy parks” as a possible model to reconvert oil meshes through multi-scalar design tools (territorial/landscape/urban/architectural) aiming to couple renewable energies’ production processes to social inclusion.

Comparing land change from shale gas infrastructure development in neighboring Utica and Marcellus regions, 2006–2015

ABSTRACTThe emergent patterns of land change resulting from the development of shale oil and gas infrastructure is a result of many small decisions and interactions. This research focuses on the land change associated with the development of shale oil and gas infrastructure in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in two geographically proximate and physically similar counties, Carroll County, OH, and Washington County, PA. Land-cover data used to measure feature-scale change were digitized from aerial photography and then used to update National Land Cover Dataset data used in the calculation of forest fragmentation for the entire study areas. The amount and pattern of land change was very similar between the two counties even though they are drawing oil and gas from different shale formations. Less than 1% of the total forest for each county was lost but the fragmentation impacts are amplified by the pattern of infrastructure on the landscape.

Poetics of cartography: globalism and the “oil enclave” in Ibiwari Ikiriko’s Oily Tears of the Delta

This paper examines the ways in which ideas and discourses generated by global phenomena (such as the Oil Encounter) travel and get reframed in local topographies. It asks how one might reposition hermeneutics appropriate to a particular context without falling into the trap of an epistemology that is purportedly global but representing other interests? The environment in which crude oil is extracted has been termed heterogeneous and international. Amitav Ghosh describes it as one that is “lacking in a sense of place,” while James Ferguson considers it an “insular and socially thin neoliberal landscape of deregulated enterprises.” This paper goes against the grain by challenging the formations that undergird some of these assumptions. It takes the Niger Delta as a landscape in which quotidian life and the oil infrastructure are intimately intertwined and asks what insights might literary depictions of this context give about the form of globalism that operates within the industrial complex through which oil is extracted. Reading Ibiwari Ikiriko’s poetry collection Oily Tears of the Delta, the paper reflects on how the text stages a dialogue with the global by addressing itself to the oil infrastructure in that environment. It discusses Ikiriko’s poetry as one that encourages the reader to think about locality and geopolitics as possible sites of conflict, as sites of understanding power and the kinds of agency that they enable in the environments where oil is extracted to feed global consumption.

Out of sight out of mind – subsea pipeline decommissioning

Existing legislation, regulation and documentation dealing with decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure has traditionally been derived from experience gained in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The Australian operating environments are very different and, consequently, there is no Australian industry-wide engineering standard dedicated to the decommissioning of offshore pipelines. Decommissioning of Australian offshore pipelines is currently handled on a case-by-case basis. The efficiency and effectiveness of any given decommissioning project is variable, and highly dependent upon the experience of the pipeline operator. Given the maturity stage of the Australian offshore oil and gas industry, it is foreseen that in the coming years many operators will approach the task of decommissioning offshore pipelines for the first time. In 2014 the Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre (EPCRC) formed an offshore users group, comprising pipeline experts from several offshore oil and gas operators and engineering consultancies that are members of the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association’s Research and Standards Committee (APGA RSC). This group is developing an engineering guideline for the decommissioning of offshore pipelines. It is being developed in close communication with the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), which has formed a decommissioning committee in relation to offshore facilities. This ensures the guideline is being developed by and with input from a broad spectrum of the Australian offshore oil and gas industry, with the aim of capturing best practice in the Australian context.

Beyond Rebellion: Uncaptured Dimensions of Violent Conflicts and the Implications for Peacebuilding in Nigeria’s Niger Delta

ABSTRACTDisagreements between indigenous communities and the Nigerian state on natural resource management constitute a major source of conflicts in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Though armed militancy targeting oil infrastructure constituted a major form of the conflicts, there existed other types, levels, and dimensions of conflicts within the region. However, the Nigerian state response has focused mainly on addressing the armed militant conflict that targets oil industry infrastructure, leaving other—though connected—conflicts in the Niger Delta unattended. The neglect of other forms of conflicts, it is argued, impacts the ability of state-led peacebuilding programs to stabilize the Niger Delta region.

OILANDSCAPES / Coupling ecological and social dimensions with oil infrastructures in Adriatic-Ionian region

The aim of the paper is to explore the potential of oil industry landscapes if ‘coupled’ with new socio-ecologic realms, for the definition of a innovative local development processes. It will lead the reader in understanding, firstly, the conceptual transition from previous ‘oil infrastructures’ to ‘oil meshes’, necessary to set the analytical and designing scale of our proposed OILANDSCAPES. Starting from the assumption that ‘oil infrastructures’ have always played an important role in the definition of the stratified territorial morphology and that can be considered as cultural heritage because of their socio-cultural values, in the first part the paper focuses on the definition of three kinds of oil landscapes: upstream, midstream and downstream landscapes. Then, it leads the reader’s attention on ‘oil infrastructures’ concept which is tightly related to an engineering approach in territorial planning. In the second part, the paper wants to introduce the suggested transition from ‘oil infrastructures’ to ‘oil meshes’ concept, supporting the idea that these three kinds of landscape have to be studied as a unique realm, so enlarging our point of view towards the territorial scale. After, the paper introduces the two current issues which are differently affecting oil industry on the Western coasts of Adrion region and on the Eastern ones: the crisis of the downstream sector in the first case, and the increasing in exploration and production oil activities in the second one. The effects of these local and regional dynamics will influence the territorial ‘oil meshes’ in their entirety. Therefore, ‘oil meshes’ are questioned to be responsive to a de-engineering reconversion process in one case and to be sensitive to innovative planning tools in the other one. In the third part, two case studies, representative of the opposite outlined current trends, are identified thanks to their concentration of oil infrastructures: the South-Eastern Sicilian oil district (Gela-Ragusa- Syracuse) in Italy and the Myzeqe plain oil district (Fier-Patos-Marinza-Ballsh-Kucova) in Albania.

Effect of hygrothermal conditioning on the energy release rate and failure mechanism of metal only adherend-glass fibre prepreg co-cured single lap joints

Fibre-reinforced composite materials are extensively used in repair and rehabilitation of oil and gas metal infrastructures which are largely exposed to water and hydrocarbon. An important aspect to this is applying adequate surface preparation to the metal to ensure a durable bond between the composite and metal substrate. In this paper, mild steel surface was prepared using grit blasting and single lap joint (SLJ) test specimens were manufactured and tested to investigate the adhesion in terms of total energy release rate (GT) of the interface between mild steel adherend and glass fibre prepreg. An out-of-water usable epoxy resin primer was incorporated to join mild steel adherend with glass fibre prepreg by curing at a temperature of 55 °C for 48 h. Upon durability testing of the SLJ specimens using hygrothermal conditioning at a temperature of 55 °C for 1000 h, the experimental GT values were seen to reduce significantly. Comparatively lower amount of cohesive failure and increased amount of swelling or delamination of the adhesive was observed for conditioned SLJ specimens when compared to controlled SLJ specimens. Furthermore, the experimental GT values were found to correlate well with an analytical adhesive interface model.

Impact Assessment of Oil Exploitation in South Sudan using Multi-Temporal Landsat Imagery

This scientific report examines the spatial impacts of oil exploitation in Melut County, South Sudan, at six points in the time span between 1999 and 2011, based on Landsat satellite data. Three features were analysed: cropland, oil well pads and roads. Feature extraction consisted of pixel- and object-based classification approaches as well as on-screen digitization. Land cover classification was performed as a base for further object-based classification of cropland areas and oil well pads. Spatial analysis of the relationship between the detected features was performed. Apart from a sharp decline in cropland areas between 1999 and 2002, croplands increased steadily over time and more than doubled in size. Oil infrastructure grew enormously in size throughout the whole time series from a single pad in 1999 to 555 pads in 2011. The example exhibited the potential of Earth observation as a tool to support the field of peace and conflict research (Mager 2013).

Comparison of Site Preparation and Revegetation Strategies Within a Sphagnum-dominated Peatland Following Removal of an Oil Well Pad

Few guidelines exist for the effective revegetation of peatlands following the removal of in-situ oil and gas infrastructure. We conducted a manipulative field study in northeast Alberta, Canada, on a well pad undergoing removal and revegetation to test different management practices for facilitating vegetation establishment and recovery of a sphagnum-dominated peatland. A randomized block design was used to evaluate the effect of various revegetation practices, including augmenting natural recovery with the use of native transplants, acrotelm transfer from a similar intact donor peatland, and the use of variable surface microtopography. Although overall survival of transplants was similar between areas smoothed and left rough, areas that were rough had greater species richness under natural recovery, including trees, shrubs, and other perennial herbs. Moreover, survival and growth of woody transplants (Picea mariana—black spruce and Ledum groenlandicum—Labrador tea) were greater when planted within the top and middle microtopographic positions rather than micro-depressions. Survival of transplanted sedges (Carex spp.) was high at all topographic positions, but benefited the most in growth from planting in depressions. Contrary to expectations, no benefits of acrotelm application were found on vegetation recovery during the first two seasons, and even reduced the presence of some native vegetation. Although transplants directly contributed to revegetation, the recovering peatland remained highly dissimilar ( 90%) in composition relative to the neighboring peatland after two years.

Industrial-sized Cyber Attacks Threaten the Upstream Sector

The oil and gas industry is coming to terms with a cyber threat landscape that has expanded beyond data breaches and the theft of intellectual property. The latest battlefront is in the field where critical drilling and production assets are at risk of being disrupted or destroyed, thanks to their highly vulnerable control systems. The industry has experienced only a few cases of these so-called cyber-to-physical attacks but the US Department of Homeland Security predicts that by 2018 cyber attacks against oil and gas infrastructure around the world will cost almost USD 1.9 billion. One of the most dire warnings comes from the multinational risk adviser and insurance firm Willis Group, which in 2014 reported that “a major energy catastrophe, on the same scale as Piper Alpha, Phillips Pasadena, Exxon Valdez, or Deepwater Horizon, could indeed be caused by a cyber attack.” The company noted in its report that insurance providers generally will not cover such events. The concern over control systems has come to the forefront because of the widespread use of digital oilfield technology that began about 2 decades ago. Driven by significant gains in efficiency and production, companies eagerly moved to tether nearly every facet of operational networks to the Internet, either directly or through corporate networks. On the plus side, the industry gained invaluable real-time data, various operations became automated, and engineers working in office buildings could remotely control offshore operations. But the computer hardware that makes all of this possible was never designed to be connected to the Internet. Known collectively as Industrial Control Systems (ICS), they were built to run in isolation and thus have no security measures that guard against run-of-the-mill malware, let alone a targeted cyber attack launched by a sophisticated hacker. “Security was not important for anyone; what was important was to have those systems operational,” said Ayman Al Issa, chief technologist and senior adviser of industrial cyber security at Booz Allen Hamilton. He added, “Based on our experience, it is easy to attack those systems—it is easy to attack thousands of them.” Al Issa explained that the control systems are used not only in the oil and gas industry but in nearly every industry and utility sector around the world. Recent attacks on control systems in Europe prove that the digital oil field is at risk. The long list of assets using these exposed control systems includes drilling rigs, subsea wellheads, flowmeters, production facilities, pipelines, and artificial lift installations. The industry is working on multiple fronts to address vulnerabilities, but cybersecurity experts working in the industry say it will be years before adequate safeguards are in place. Until then, oil and gas companies must face the reality that the hacker community has the advantage.

Preliminary Results of Satellite SAR Monitoring of Oil Spills in the Barents Sea

Analyzed are the preliminary results of satellite radar monitoring of oil spills in the Barents Sea. For the first time on a regular basis, it took place in 2015 – 2016 using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the European Space Agency’ Sentinel-1A satellite. To effectively analyze radar data used geoinformation (GIS) approach, in which on-line GIS or geoportal based on GeoMixer technology, a large volume of oceanographic, physical-geographical and industrial information about the water basin has been collected, including on oil and gas infrastructure and the vulnerability of the coasts, have been used. With the use of new approaches and methods of analysis and data automatic ship identification systems it is shown that main source of oil spills with area from 0.5 to 90 km 2 is a cargo shipping and fishing. Summary maps of detected and mapped oil spills in 2015 – 2016 are presented and discussed.

Design of Engineering Protection for Beds and Foundations of Oil, Gas, and Condensate Field Facilities Under Difficult Permafrost Soil Conditions

Design solutions for engineering protection against rising groundwater are examined at oil, gas, and condensate field infrastructure development sites in the northern region of Russia. Examples are presented of the successful implementation of protective measures in designs and construction projects developed by OJSC Fundamentproekt.