Waters A Survey of Offshore Oilfield Drilling Wastes and Disposal Techniques to Reduce the Ecological Impact of Sea Dumping by Jonathan Wills, M.A., Ph.D., M.Inst. In an effort to minimize impacts on the environment, Unocal's engineers are testing various fluid systems in their drilling operations.
Plans are underway to apply the fluid in drilling all oil and gas wells in Thailand and Indonesia.
This same drilling fluid meets current permit guidelines for discharge of drill cuttings in the Gulf of Mexico, and has been accepted by EPA and the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service. The synthetic drilling fluid that Unocal is testing has several distinct environmental advantages over conventional diesel and mineral oil-based drilling fluids. As a result, they are more benign environmentally, as demonstrated by aquatic toxicity testing. A health-based risk assessment was recently performed to further confirm the reduced environmental impact of this innovative drilling fluid. Environmentally sensitive drilling fluids.