How offshore arctic conditions affect drilling mud disposal

Journal Article · Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1982 · Pet. Eng. Int.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6031538

Miller, R C; Britch, R P; Hillman, S O; Shafer, R V

Reports on a series of studies and tests, covering a time period from early 1979 to mid-1981, conducted to examine both below-ice and above-ice discharge. Local, state, and federal concern has been expressed over the discharge of drilling effluent in shallow arctic seas contiguous to the northern coast of Alaska. The 1979 studies included monitoring environmental boundary conditions, test discharges of drilling effluents above and below the ice, analysis of drilling effluents, benthic studies, and toxicity testing. Studies in 1980 and 1981 included grain size, trace metal, and hydrocarbon analysis of drilling effluents and seafloor sediments, depositional monitoring, and photographic monitoring of individual aboveice sites. Results show that the fate of drilling fluids disposed of on top of the ice will vary with location within the lease area. Drilling effluents discharged in nearshore areas subject to overflow flooding from major rivers would be widely dispersed during the initial stages of breakup. Depending on the movement of the parent ice sheet during the later stages of breakup, solids may either be deposited on the seafloor beneath the disposal site or be carried with the broken ice sheet and be widely (spatially) and thinly deposited on the seafloor.

• Research Organization: Sohio Alaska Petroleum Co., Anchorage, Alaska
• OSTI ID: 6031538
• Journal Information: Pet. Eng. Int.; (United States), Vol. 54:15
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
42 ENGINEERING
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ARCTIC OCEAN
WASTE DISPOSAL
WATER POLLUTION
DRILLING FLUIDS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
BEAUFORT SEA
DEPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
GRAIN SIZE
HYDROCARBONS
ICEBERGS
MONITORING
PHOTOGRAPHY
SEA BED
SOLIDS
TESTING
TOXICITY
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
FLUIDS
ICE
MANAGEMENT
MICROSTRUCTURE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SEAS
SIZE
SURFACE WATERS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
423000 - Engineering- Marine Engineering- (1980-)
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)