Discuss about the term for Oil and Gas of Vital Role in Todays Society.
Oil and gas play a very vital role in today’s society. Oil and gas are most used sources of energy by human beings. Besides being an energy source, they also serve as the raw material for many consumer goods, thus playing a relevant in people’s life. With its positive side, the oil and gas industry has a negative side that it holds a major potential of affecting the environment hazardously. It may impact harmfully at various levels on air, water, soil and the whole clan of living beings.
The most dangerous impact of oil and gas industry is pollution which is associated with basically all the stages of oil and gas production. It starts from exploration then it goes to production and in the end distribution. Gas emissions, solid waste, wastewaters, and aerosols generated during drilling, production, and distribution of all types of chemicals and other refined products of oil and gas industry.
Other impacts include increase of green house effect, poorer water quality, groundwater contamination, acid rain, and much more. Strong measures need to be taken to control the pollution created by the oil and gas industry. As the most affected by this environmental pollution will be human beings and their coming generation.
Impacts
There many impacts of the oil and gas industry on the environment, its impacts on the soil will be discussed here. The first step of oil and gas industry is to search the oil, and that process is known as an exploration of oil and gas. This step includes drilling, exploration of land, and seismic surveys. In short it is the small scale extraction process. In search of oil number of surveys is done on the land and that leave a negative impact on it. Exploration of land create soil pollution; it harms the surface of the earth with the movement of traffic, ground clearing and other crew activities that not only disturbs the earth’s surface but also the subsurface of the earth. In search of oil, they drill the earth surface hence harming ecological resources also like vegetation, wildlife, biota, and special status species which affect the fertility of soil therefore it leads to soil pollution.
During the process of exploration continues, the crew appointed for working on various activities may generate waste like plastic, paper, containers, leaks/spills, paper, and human waste. Also, waste produced by exploratory drilling like mud, drilling fluid, used oil and filters, drill cuttings, scrap metal and garbage causes soil pollution (Fellet, Marder and Patzek, 2014).
Once the step of exploration is completed and the company put up the plant to extract the oil and gas from the earth’s surface, and they are processed in a refinery or at the field plant itself to produce the final product for the consumer. The production of oil and gas leave the maximum negative effects on the environment and creates a lot of soil pollution.
Wastes produced by the oil and gas industries, containing petroleum hydrocarbons, naturally occurring radioactive materials, metals, toxic chemicals, and salts, give hazardous effect as they can prevent the growth of vegetation and cause soil pollution. Water released from such industries contains contaminants and concentrated salts which are often disposed of in the ponds, rivers or stored in pits. This contaminated water can stop the growth of vegetation and sterilize the soil. Contaminants entering in soil may not only remain on the surface but seep into the ground water, which may, later on, pollute the other environmental sources too. (Fellet, Marder and Patzek, 2014).
After production, oil and gas have to reach to its ultimate consumer. A distribution system is formed to transport the natural oil and gas from one place to another. Tankers and pipelines are generally used to carry oil and gas from one place to another. In the process of transferring oil and gas from one place to another leakage or, in other words, oil spill is the main issue that a distribution system faces which harm the environment. Any kind of leakage affects the vegetation if happened in an agricultural land and also waste the scares natural product which affect the fertility of soil causing soil pollution. If the oil spill or leakage is not cleaned properly, then its layer remains on the surface of the earth, which restricts any kind of growth of vegetation on the land. Even water also not able to seep in properly through the earth’s surface, which later affects the underground water level (Sykes, 2008).
Issues
This whole process of exploration, production, and distribution has lot of negative impacts on environment which give birth to many issues related to it. The main issue is the harmful effect of all these processes and due to them the amount of pollution is caused which affect the health of all living species.
A number of chemicals are used and released in the process of refining which is later released from these industries either in the nearby water resources, or they are dumped in the pits. These chemicals later on get mixed with the natural resources and reach in the body of living beings. For example contaminated water used for irrigating fields which will not only harm the fertility of the soil creating soil pollution but also the vegetation will have effects of these chemicals which later on will be consumed by the human beings ultimately causing many health issues. These chemicals are making our soil toxic and harmful. It also sterilizes it making it worthless.
Measures
Measures that can be taken to reduce the impacts of the process o exploration, production, and distribution of oil and gas industry are like the recycling of waste and contaminate water can be done before releasing it as this can harm the environmental sources. Oil from wastewaters and sludge should be recovered to the maximum and clean water should only be released. Phenols, caustics, and solvent should be recovered and reused as they cause a lot of harm to the environmental sources specially soil and water. In a case of emergency, refinery should be prepared to reduce the hazardous effect to the minimum. Corrosion monitoring, control, and prevention of underground pipelines and tank bottoms should be practiced. Leak detention and repair programs should be established. Adopting environment-friendly technology will help in minimizing impacts of petroleum development on the environment. Steps to be taken by the government and oil companies towards environmental restoration. Environmental research and management institutions should be developed. Awareness programs to educate public about the environmental restoration should be run. If all these measures are taken into consideration, then not only soil pollution but other pollution level will also decrease.
New technology
Research and development department of government and oil and gas industries are working hard to come up with some new technologies that may help in reducing the impacts of oil and gas industry.
Availability of energy sources to the ultimate consumer globally at nominal prices would be the next step for oil and gas industry. Development and promotion of renewable energy should be the priority to decrease pressure on oil and gas industry and to the scarce natural resources. Renewable energy will help in reducing the impact of oil and gas industry on the environmental sources. The efficiency of the existing fuels available for the consumption should be improved up to twice what at present. Alternative fuels like bioalcohols, biodiesel, green diesel, and biogas should be promoted and used. Developing biofuel to reduce the usage of the scare natural sources and using a waste material for developing such biofuels will definitely help oil and gas industry to remain the leader in the global energy market and also help in reducing its impact on the environment (Longlong and Yifei, 2012).
There are many laws stated by the Government to regulate oil and gas industry. Environmental impact assessment is a law that assesses the environmental consequences of the proposed project. Air quality law handles the assessment of polluted released by the industry. Water quality law regulates the release of contaminated water into the water resources. The waste management law keeps a control on the waste storage, transportation, and disposal of all kinds of waste like municipal waste, or hazardous waste. The environmental cleanup law regulates the removal of contaminants and polluted waste into the environmental media. Forestry law controls the land under the forestry regulation. It regulates the burn practices and land acquisition by the industry. Wildlife law regulates the impact of industrial activity on the wildlife (Schmitt, 2007).
Sustainability
To minimize the harmful effects of the various process of exploration, production and distribution of oil and gas companies and government need to invest in better technology and talent as it will help the oil and gas industry to meet the challenge of sustainability socially, economically and environmentally. Heavy investment in research and development department for new technologies and alternative fuel type is also required. Other actions that the oil and gas industry can take include the implementation of energy-efficient processes and usage of renewable sources of energy will help in attaining sustainability. Introducing and promoting sustainable energy products in the new market. Flaring of gasses should be reduced during production of oil, and the captured gas should be used in other energy initiatives. Development of core competencies and investing in research and development. Public awareness about the availability of sustainable energy product should be an objective of the oil companies. To have a sustained development, it is necessary for oil and gas industry to find fuels that are responsible socially and environmentally.
Oil and gas industry produce the maximum share of energy in the global energy market around the world. With the increasing population the standard of living also improve, it demands for more energy. The demand for an alternate energy source will also become bold in the coming future that too at a reasonable cost, thus it is necessary for the industry to be sustainable (Longlong and Yifei, 2012).
Issues realated to the economic, social and environmental sustainability
All the activities of an oil and gas industries engender high risks, they are working continuously to reduce their adverse impacts on the environment and people (Schneider, Vargo, & Campbell 2011). Compensation has to be given to a land for using his land for exploration but many time if a company doesn’t found a natural resource they pack their things and move without paying for using the land. This harm the social image of the company. Same way, the waste created by the crew members and the processes is not cleaned and recycled will harm the environment. The greenhouse gas emission and habitat destruction affect the environment badly. Oil spill is the major issue of oil and gas industry, if there is any kind of wastage of precious oil because of leakage then it effect the economy as that much barrels of oil has to be imported for the country.
Recommendations
To minimize the harmful effects of the various process of exploration, production and distribution of oil and gas companies and government need to invest in better technology and talent as it will help the oil and gas industry to meet the challenge of sustainability socially, economically and environmentally. Heavy investment in research and development department for new technologies and alternative fuel type is also required. Other actions that the oil and gas industry can take includes the implementation of energy efficient processes and usage of renewable sources of energy will help in attaining sustainability. Introducing and promoting sustainable energy products in the new market. Flaring of gasses should be reduced during production of oil, and the captured gas should be used in other energy initiatives. Development of core competencies and investing in research and development. Public awareness about the availability of sustainable energy product should be an objective of the oil companies (Schmitt, 2007).
Conclusion
Although, the activities of exploration, production and distribution of oil and gas cause alteration to the environment. Means they have significant negative effects on the environment, but some of the effects can be reduced or prevented by taking important steps. New technologies are being invented to reduce the dependence on petroleum products.
Petroleum products are an integral part of the modern life because not only for transportation, petroleum products act as a raw material for many other things that are useful in our day to day life like pharmaceuticals, plastics, paints, pesticides, solvents, and cosmetics. With the increased population and advancing technology, the demand for all the products is also increasing many of which include petroleum products. With the increased usage of the petroleum products, the negative impacts will also increase with it. That means, not only all the attention should be paid to increase its efficiency but also how to reduce its hazardous effects. Oil companies should be monitored, for following the rules and regulations set up by the government and it can be done by establishing a monitoring agency for this purpose will help to restrict these oil companies (Sykes, 2008).
References
Fellet, M., Marder, M. and Patzek, T. (2014). Cement performance impacts integrity of oil and gas wells. MRS Bull., 39(12), pp.1048-1050.
Longlong, C. and Yifei, L. (2012). Research on Main Constraints in Sustainable Development of China Oil-Gas Upstream Industry. Energy Procedia, 14, pp.325-330.
Schmitt, H. (2007). Environmental politics and the oil and gas industry. Natural Gas, 13(1), pp.13-16.
Sykes, R. (2008). Oil and Gas Industry Efforts on Behalf of Human Rights and Sustainable Development. The Way Ahead, 04(02), pp.12-13.a
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