The “Disappearing Road Competition” 2008-2009

http://sites.google.com/a/pe.tamu.edu/disappearing-roads-competition/

Department of Petroleum EngineeringCrisman Institute, GPRI

Department of Civil Engineering Texas Transportation Institute

Texas A&M UniversityHouston Area Research Center

Halliburton, Year 2008-2009 Sponsor

Objectives of EFD/DR Program

(1) To incorporate current and emerging technologies into a clean E&P system with no or very limited environmental impact

(2) To demonstrate a viable system used for the exploration and exploitation of oil & natural gas primarily in the lower 48 states (DOE),

(3) To create a team with skills to minimize impact of oil and gas activity in the lower 48 states, much of which is now being directed on lands officially designated as ‘sensitive’ and/ or ‘protected’ .

The Scope

DR Contest:Environmental Guidelines; (Desert Ecosystems)

Air Quality

Soil Resources

Water Resources

Vegetation Page Descriptions

Fish and Wildlife Page Descriptions

Threatened and Endangered Species and their Habitats

Cultural Resources

Visitor Use and Experience including

Visual Quality, including the Night Sky

Natural Quiet

West Texas and U.S. Desert Ecosystem Problem:How to produce 10 tcf gas with

minimal environmental impact?

Site for Disappearing Road Contest 2008 -2009

Example: Can we reduce this footprint even more?

Disappearing Roads; Time Schedule

Submission of Phase I Documents November, 2008

Notification to Teams About Outcomes of Phase I Evaluation

December, 2008

Submission of Phase II Documents March, 2009

Notification to Teams About Outcomes of Phase II EvaluationInvitation of the Top Five Winners to Participate in Phase III

May, 2009

Presentations by the Top Five Winners to the Panel Judges

June, 2009

Awards Banquet June, 2009

Field Site Testing of Low Impact Oil Field Access Roads: Reducing the Footprint in

Desert Ecosystems

The project consists of a creating sections of minimal impact O&G lease roads and to test their effectiveness in reducing the environmental footprint of field development in sensitive desert ecosystems. The goal of our program is to reduce the environmental impact of mature field O&G operations and reduce the costs and regulatory delays associated with additional resource development.

The Desert O&G Operations Test Center

• The test site will be located at the Texas A&M University Desert Test Center http://www.pecosrtc.org/  on the edge of the Chihuahua desert. The experimental test sections at the site will be instrumented for remote measurement, with the goal of finding the material with the ability to withstand both normal and heavy truck traffic over intermittent periods through a complete calendar year.

• One type of low impact road (a “disappearing road”) will be incorporated into the test site as part of a nationwide engineering scholastic competition

Aerial View of Pecos Site

West Texas Test Facility, to be operated by A&M. The 6000 acre facility provides an ideal location to test deployment of the Anadarko platform in desert environments and to configure it and other systems for low impact drilling. The West Texas Test Site is less than 100 miles to Lea County New Mexico and oil and gas resources there.

Otero Mesa Landscape

Example: Limiting Access to Federal Lands in New Mexico

Reuse of Waste Materials

• Companies are investigating and implementing ways to recycle drilling waste materials. Processed drill cuttings and other drilling by-products have been used successfully for road construction in a few areas, and as drilling waste processing technologies grow more sophisticated, the options should increase. Mechanical and chemical treatments to remove or neutralize potentially harmful components in these waste materials are increasingly effective.

Scott Environmental Services, Inc.

• FirmusSM Process

– Process that involves stabilizing drill mud/cuttings so that the contaminants are chemically fixed to specific closure criteria.

– The FirmusSM process also provides load-bearing structures, i.e. drilling pads and lease roads.

Newpark Mats & Integrated Services• Parent company - Newpark Resources, traded on NYSE as NR Consolidated 5 business units in

2007

– May recall SOLOCO, Composite Mat Solutions (CMS)

• Largest mat company in US

• Manufactured DURA-BASE® since 1997

• Over 100,000 mats sold worldwide

• Manage a sizable rental fleet in our own Oil Field Services Business Attending today for Newpark

– James McDowell, PhD – Engineering

– Keith Pearson – Sales

DURA-BASE® COMPOSITE MAT SYSTEM

Recycling

of

Oil & Gas Waste

Inland Environmental & Remediation

Recycling Process

Roadbase Installation

5,800-acre research and testing facility in Pecos, located about 90 miles west of

Midland-Odessa

SCOPE OF WORK: The EFD team will provide three key services

• (1) Creating a working partnership among industry, government, and academic teams to identify cost effective technology for O&G operations in desert-lke ecosystems.

• (2) Forming an industry desert test center where new technology can be evaluated under controlled conditions in a field environment that does not impact sensitive ecosystems.

• (3) Performing a controlled test program to evaluate specific new technology for reducing the footprint of oil field access roads in a desert-like environment.

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

• Task 1 -Develop a Project Management Plan and report.

• Task 2 - Perform a Technology Status Assessment and submit a summary report

• Task 3 – Technology Transfer. Tours of the A&M Desert Test Center

• Task 4 – Planning Field Demonstration

• Task 5 Mobilize Equipment to Test Site and Construct Test Tracks

• Task 6 Operations: Performance, Monitoring and Demonstrations

• Task 7 – Analyze Performance of Low-Impact Systems.

• Task 8 – Update Economic Analysis and Finalize Project Field Testing

• Task 9 – Final Report.

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

References

• Bennett, S. L. “Dust: invisible, dangerous, avoidable.” Erosion Control Magazine, March 2000.:

• Elcock, Deborah. Environmental Policy and Regulatory Constraints to Natural Gas Production. Environmental Assessment Division, Argonne National Laboratory: 2004.

• Forman, R. T. T., D. Sperling, J. A. Bissonette, A. P. Clevenger, C. D. Cutshall, V. H. Dale, L.

• Fahrig, R. France, C. R. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. A. Jones, F. J. Swanson, T. Turrentine, and T. C. Winter. Road Ecology: Science and Solutions. Island Press: Washington, D. C.: 2003.

• Gilmer, Robert W. Crossroads—Economic Trends in the Desert Southwest. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch. Issue 1, 2005. 1-4.

• Ministry of Transportation, Public Works, and Water Management. “Towards Sustainable Verge Management in the Netherlands.” Ministerie van Verkaar en Waterstaat, Delft, Netherlands. 1994.

• Estakhri, C. (Project Summary Report. 7-2966-S. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. November 2004.