Oil Production Sites Research Articles

Airborne measurements of atmospheric methane over oil fields in western Siberia

Airborne measurements of atmospheric methane (CH4) over oil fields in western Siberia were carried out on August 1, 1994. Extremely sharp CH4 peaks were observed in the horizontal distribution of CH4 at an altitude of 150 m above the ground surface; the half widths of the peaks were 3–4 km and the concentration of the largest peak exceeded 2.9 ppmv. Since the CH4 distribution was considered to reflect the distribution of CH4 emission strength on the surface, there was strong CH4 emission at the peak positions. All of the observed CH4 peak positions were located at or near oil production sites and/or oil pipelines, suggesting that natural gas was emitted from the facilities. Leakage or venting of natural gas are the probable CH4 sources.

Environmental Liability Associated with Oil and Gas Production Sites: A Case Study

Environmental Liability Associated with Oil and Gas Production Sites: A Case Study

Evaluation of effects associated with an oil platform, using the sediment quality triad

AbstractThe Sediment Quality Triad concept, which incorporates components of sediment chemistry, toxicity (= bioassay tests) and benthic community structure, was applied to the area immediately surrounding a commercial oil and gas production site in the Gulf of Mexico. The results of this study indicated that stations within a 25‐m radius of a central platform and at a remote platform had high levels of sediment chemical enrichment and high toxicity, as determined in laboratory sediment toxicity tests. Benthic community structure at those stations was different from that at more distant stations, where chemical enrichment and toxicity were low; the differences included some examples of greater taxa richness, total abundance and specific taxa abundance in the vicinity of the platforms. There was no evidence of depauperate fauna near the platforms, such as might be expected if significant adverse effects were manifest in situ. Although chemical enrichment from the platforms had the potential to cause adverse environmental effects within the immediate vicinity of source (the 25‐m stations in the present study), this potential was not manifest in the benthos, possibly due to offsetting factors that could have included the physical habitat provided by the platforms, grain‐size effects and adaptation.

EFFECT OF CRUDE OIL ON MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN MARINE SEDIMENTS

ABSTRACT Studies were carried out to detect and quantitate 12 microbial processes occurring in sediments in the north central Gulf of Mexico, and to determine the impact of low-level concentrations of oil on these processes. Under the simulated in situ conditions employed, photosynthesis, nitrification, dentrification, nitrogen fixation, sulfate reduction, and phosphate uptake were minimal, while sulfur oxidation and catabolic carbonaceous processes (heterotrophic activity, lipolysis, proteolysis cellulolysis, and chitinolysis) were present with varying degrees of activity. Little difference in metabolic activity was detected between oil-production platform sites and corresponding control sites, among different sediment types, or among three sampling seasons, and the presence of oil at up to 200 microliter per milliliter sediment had no significant impact on reaction rates. Pure culture studies confirmed that low-level concentrations of crude oil had essentially no effect on these processes.