Pembina's Functioning Oil Spill Control Cooperative
Authors: O'Connell Patrick D. , Krenkel P.H. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Third Numerical Simulation of Reservoir Performance Symposium of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME to be held in Houston, Tex., Jan, 10–12, 1973. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by who the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

In Aug., 1970, the Pembina Area Pollution Control Cooperative held its first organizational meeting. The cooperative included producing, pipeline and processing companies producing, pipeline and processing companies that operate within the Pembina field, a 3,000-well oilfield area located in Alberta, Canada.

This paper reviews the accomplishments of the cooperative during its first year which include the conducting of an oil-spill control test on a major river. The paper concludes that (1) an effective oil-spill control organization can be readily established on a voluntary basis by members of the petroleum industry, (2) most oil spills occurring in producing operations can be handled by equipment and personnel normally available in the oil field and (3) the use of specialized equipment can improve the efficiency of the recovery operation.

Introduction

The Pembina oil field is located some 60 miles southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. The field covers an area approximately 60 by 30 miles, of which less than half is cultivated for mixed farming, the remainder being forest lands. The field is traversed by one very large river, the North Saskatchewan, and a number of other streams, the largest of which is the Pembina River from which the field got its name.

The field produces over 150,000 BOPD primarily from the Cardium formation. There are primarily from the Cardium formation. There are close to 3,000 producing oil wells and a multiplicity of associated water injection wells, gathering and treating facilities, gas processing and compression plants, waterflood processing and compression plants, waterflood facilities and pipelines (Fig. 1).

In early 1970, the companies operating in the field concluded that their long-standing concern with protection of the environment required formalization. As a result, a meeting of all operators in the field was held in Aug., 1970, at which time the Pembina Area Pollution Control Cooperative Committee was established. This paper reviews the progress and status of this cooperative, which was to become the model for the producing segment of the Canadian petroleum industry and other oil-spill control petroleum industry and other oil-spill control organizations.

MEMBERSHIP, ORGANIZATION AND EXPENDITURES

From the outset, the cooperative has received whole-hearted support and encouragement from all segments of -industry, the local community and the government of the Province of Alberta. The active membership in the cooperative includes all of the 31 producing, pipeline and gas-processing companies operating in the field (Table 1).

The formal organization (Fig. 2) of the cooperative consisted of the following.