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Salym Petroleum Development (SPD) explores and develops the Salym group of oil fields in West Siberia. As its production grows, so do the potential threats that it may cause to the environment. Therefore, protecting the environment is one of the main principles underlying the operations of SPD.

Common Goal
SPD is one of the most dynamically developing companies in the oil and gas sector of West Siberia. Today, only three years after it started developing the Salym fields, it has reached production of over a million tons per year. Now that the main construction activity has been completed and production is growing, Salym Petroleum has entered a new operational phase in its development. At this stage SPD sets new ambitious goals expressed in a new slogan, Best Team - Best Operator.

Being the best operator means more than just extracting millions of tons of oil from the ground, but doing it safely. SPD tries to do that without causing any harm to the people or the environment. Its other slogan, Goal Zero, means precisely this: operations should result in no harm. "Goal Zero is about changing the mindset and the behavior considering health, safety, security and environment in our daily working lives", says Robert Smith, Head of field HSSE.

Goal Zero is not a one-off campaign. Attention to the environment should become the norm and a performance target. Reaching the zero target is not simple, but SPD has all the prerequisites to achieve it. "Our company has developed an HSSE system that includes the use of advanced technologies that have proven their worth in the area of environmental and labor safety," says Elena Kompasenko, SPD's HSSE Manager. All environmental programs and projects of the company are based on the requirements of the Russian law and environmental standards of Shell.

In a major environmental project, SPD has built and is commissioning a RUR 1.2 billion 45 MW gas turbine power plant at West Salym. The power plant will address the issue of flared associated gas that will now be used to generate electricity. The plant will operate three Solar gas turbines that meet all Russian and international emission standards. The power plant will allow the company to reduce reliance on Tyumenenergo electricity supplier, improve the energy efficiency of its operations and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every day of the power plant operating at full capacity results in the reduction of CO2 emissions by about 350 tons. "The construction of the power plant is an important step of SPD to address utilization of associated gas, one of the main challenges facing the oil and gas sector of Russia, and reduce harmful emissions into the air", says SPD's Technical Manager Koos Koole. "When in operation, the power plant has allowed to achieve associated gas utilization at Salym fields up to 35%". To achieve another target, associated gas utilization factor of 95% by the mid of 2010, SPD has jointly with RussNeft and Monolith companies started implementing a project to build a gas processing plant at West Salym.

Always Under Control
Preventing and eliminating oil spills is another important component of SPD environmental efforts. Salym Petroleum maintains its own emergency response team that has all technical resources required to perform its mission. In addition to that, the company has a contract in place with specialized emergency and rescue company the Siberian Rescue Center that will assist SPD in case of need. There are regular drills to achieve smooth co-operation of all teams concerned in the event of an oil spill.

Protecting pipelines and monitoring the environment along the right-of-way has always been a challenging task for oil companies, considering that the pipelines run a long way from the areas of main operations. There is an Integrated Safety System that is implemented for the SPD's 90-km long export pipeline. To protect the pipeline's most vulnerable areas, there is a system of fences and video surveillance, some valves are put inside enclosures with access control systems. All incoming information goes into the monitors of the central security control room 24 hours a day and allows for quick response if there is a risk of damaging the environment or other emergencies.

Corrosion inhibitors are extensively used to protect the integrity and seal of tanks, separators, oil gathering lines from well pads, infield pipelines and the export pipeline. To achieve the best results, the inhibitor is put into the system as soon as a well becomes operational. Cathodic protection control stations have also been installed to provide additional protection for oil pipelines.

Air, soil, surface water and sediments are monitored on a regular basis on the territory of the Salym fields and along the export pipeline's right-of-way. The readings are compared against the natural background levels. The main purpose of this activity is to make sure production operations do not impair the condition of the environment.

Future Plans
Preventing the contamination of the environment with industrial and household waste is another important focus of SPD natural conservation efforts. In 2006, SPD started the construction of a waste polygon for industrial and domestic waste. Among other things, the polygon will be used to store and later process oil cuttings and contaminated soil, and compost and bury household waste.

Environmental engineers have designed a system for the collection, temporary storage and utilization of various types of waste. "Drilling teams, production people and infrastructure divisions have implemented the system of separate collection of solid household and industrial waste. These different types are brought separately to the polygon and stored in different areas", explains Field Environmental Engineer Ekaterina Lapenkova.

The construction of a unit for thermal utilization of oil waste called Tourmaline will start in August 2008 in the second phase of the polygon development. The unit will become operational in the middle of 2009. It will process more than 12 thousand tons of oil and household waste per year.

Salym Petroleum is maintaining close relations with environmental organizations. It implements Shell standards for biodiversity, and as part of that program cooperates with the Surgut University in a comprehensive study of flora and fauna of the Salym field that started in 2006. SPD is also a permanent sponsor of the Save and Preserve international environmental event. The company intends to retain its leadership role in environmental protection in the future.

Labels: Environmental Compliance, Salym Fields, Salym Petroleum Development, SPD

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 14:40 

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