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Waste disposal module for ARCO’s Alpine field unveiled Grinding and injection system will provide for environmentally sound treatment and disposal of drilling cuttings Tom Hall PNA Reporter
At a ribbon pulling ceremony on Feb. 2 (they changed it from a ribbon cutting because the scissors froze), Swaco DSR, a division of M-I LLC, unveiled its grinding and injection system module destined for ARCO Alaska Inc. Designed to dispose of cuttings from drilling operations, the unit will be used at the Alpine oil field.
With an investment of $6 million — $4.5 million in Alaska — the project involved several local engineering firms and more than 60 service and supply businesses. Swaco DSR Area Manager Steve Simmons estimates that 43,000 man hours by 100 individuals will have been expended on the project by the time the unit arrives at the Alpine field sometime in March. Commenting on the project’s impressive safety record, Simmons said, “To date we’ve had not even a hangnail.”
Environmental responsibility Built on a 26 foot by 64 foot trailer, the GIS was designed to move alongside and attach to the drilling rig. Drill cuttings from a mechanical conveyor are fed into the unit where they are combined into a mud slurry, conditioned and finally pumped back into a neighboring well — without the cuttings ever leaving the site. Simmons said that because waste fluids will not have to be transported to an injection site, the chances of an accidental spill are reduced. “We think that ... shows a lot of environmental responsibility,” he said. M-I also plans to introduce new procedures and techniques called integrated fluid engineering. Drawing on the expertise of all participants in the drilling process, he said that the goal of IFE is to arrive at the best method of fluids management and disposal in well drilling operations. “What that allows us to do is not create waste to a great extent and the waste we create, we can recycle,” Simmons said. Doing it right Noting how drilling waste had plagued the oil industry in the past, Janice Adair, director of the Division of Environmental Health in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (which oversees the state’s solid waste program), praised the GIS module. “We are really pleased with this facility; it is a true example of doing it right,” she said. ARCO Alaska Inc. vice president and Alpine Manager Frank Brown agreed. In the past he said, “We’d leave gravel pads and reserve pits. Today, you can’t find them.”
Brown added that the project had also done the right thing for the state of Alaska by constructing the unit mainly in Alaska. “This is just another example of equipment built in Alaska by Alaskans,” he said. Brown also seemed upbeat about the future and predicted that the number of Alpine workers would double over the next year. “This winter there will be 1,000 people working at Alpine,” he said.
The 400 ton module was scheduled to be trucked in 12 sections to Prudhoe Bay on Feb. 10 where it will be reassembled and tested. Mark Chadwell, project manager for construction of the GIS facility, told PNA that the 80 ton trailer section would be the largest truckable shipment ever to go from Anchorage to the North Slope. After the testing phase, the facility will be towed some 90 miles to the Alpine field at a blistering rate of five miles per hour.
When the GIS module becomes operational, two-man crews working in 12 hour shifts will man the facility 24 hours per day. Doyon drilling rig 19 will provide prime power, water and steam utilities for the unit. When the module is not attached to the drilling rig, a standby generator provides power for heat lights and maintenance work.
For more information contact Steve Simmons at 907 274-5501.
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