Preventative safety management supported by an emergency response system for sour gas production in North Germany

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:414754

Grossmann, U M; Schoenbach, H C

In general, the onshore production of oil and gas in North place in densely populated areas. Approximately 800 MMSCFD of gas are produced from sour gas reservoirs, with H{sub 2}S-concentrations of up to 20 Vol.-% being involved. Despite a high technical safety standard and different organizational measures in the production of sour gas, emergency cases cannot be absolutely ruled out. H{sub 2}S concentrations of more than 700 ppm will cause immediate death. In Germany the production of hydrocarbons is regulated by the Federal Mining Law. According to these regulations an extensive gas protection plan and gas alarm plan have to be set up for sour gas operations. This includes establishing an emergency response organization and a gas alarm management guide. Beyond the legal requirements Mobil Erdgas-Erdoel GmbH (MEEG) has implemented an emergency response management system in compliance with Mobil Oil`s worldwide safety philosophy to minimize the risk for the population, the employees and the environment. The installation of two electronic data systems enables the crisis management team to respond faster, more safely and in a less complicated manner to accidental sour gas releases. The introduction of the Emergency Information and Response System (EMIS) makes possible the display and manipulation of maps in different scales and geographically oriented data. The expansion of the process master computer by installing an H{sub 2}S-Gas alarm system has achieved the online measurements of H{sub 2}S concentrations, wind direction and wind velocity at sour gas production facilities. The system, which is operated at the gas dispatcher center, gives the crisis response team the opportunity to predict the location of sour gas release and the area being impacted. Consequently rescue parties will be directed to the location in a safe manner and, if necessary, measures will be managed for evacuating the residents living in the danger zones around sour gas facilities.

• OSTI ID: 414754
• Report Number(s): CONF-960623--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
ACCIDENTS
ALARM SYSTEMS
EMERGENCY PLANS
EMISSION
EVACUATION
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN SULFIDES
NATURAL GAS
REGULATIONS