Digitalisation and Environmental Sustainability
Admittedly, there is a strong need for digitalisation to minimise the environmental impact of the oil and gas industry.
In general, this is an up-to-date approach that seems optimising for any industry. In real life, though, there are no large-scale projects in Russia that would significantly change the environmental parameters of oil and gas production and processing. The approach to digitalisation in this field is still rather theoretical, with just a few examples, growing in scale and popularity in large oil and gas companies.
In particular, airborne laser scanning of the area during FEED geodetic surveys is now mandatory in most cases. These works are drone-assisted. In this case, the pulsed laser performs the step scanning of the terrain and the objects located in the area. This technology works way faster than the common method (geodetic survey) and helps obtain information about the real surface of the terrain, including hard-to-reach areas and wooden terrain, rivers and wetlands. This considerably accelerates the works due to increased scanning speed and limit of survey.
This technology also makes it possible to work virtually regardless of weather conditions and with no harm to the health of employees, engage fewer field staff members and ensure comfortable working conditions for those who process digital terrain models.
Instead, the traditional method of the geodetic survey poses a threat to human life. Weather conditions (low and high air temperatures, strong winds), wild animals (a hunter with the firearm permit is often required to ensure protection against animal attacks), broken terrain, wind snap, water barriers and swamps considerably complicate the survey process, while any drone ensures laser scanning regardless of such factors.
Currently, airborne laser scanning is becoming an integral part of surveys, especially for linear-type facilities of the oil and gas sector. The growing popularity of this method is obvious when checking the figures of as little as the three-year period. Namely, it was not until 2020 that airborne laser scanning was applied to surveying. In 2022, approximately 25% of all surveys featured this new technology. Up to date, 100% of linear object surveying use ALS.
The use of airborne laser scanning allows for faster design of objects and dramatically reduces human impact on the environment, since the presence of people and oversized crawler trucks used for production process means it is vital to provide the necessary on-site facilities for employees throughout the entire working period. This implies formation of waste water, extensive logging of the camp construction area and survey of linear object right-of-the-way centreline, CO2 emissions and topsoil disturbance when equipment and vehicles are in operation. Surveys usually take between one and five months of field work.
Another successful attempt of digitalisation in the oil and gas sector is the arrangement of gas well pads using unmanned technologies. This technology facilitates the comprehensive process control without continuous presence of personnel owing to Leak Detection Systems (LDS), Automatic Power Control (APC) and System For Line Transport Management of the primary functions of process control, imaging, data recording and reporting for oil, petroleum products, gas and gas condensate transportation facilities (SLTM), as well as system for management of the primary functions of control, data recording, imaging, coordination and reporting related to security, as well as fire detection and alarm system (FDAS). The systems facilitate the automation of production process and main parameters control at the well pad.
Also, well pads are self-sufficient because of off-grid power supply from wind turbines and solar panels with batteries. Standalone power supply system can significantly reduce the cost of power line and road construction and operation. In its turn, this minimises the environmental impact caused by heavy equipment and construction activities due to smaller construction volumes required for extended engineering networks leading to autonomous well pads. Such well pads have easy access for helicopters in the case of emergency or abnormal situations. To be more specific, the oil and gas industry successfully applies all these technologies to the fields of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation, with the climate conditions of the Far North and ambient temperature of 54°C below zero.
Today, there are certain documents and government decisions that stimulate the growth of digital solutions in the field of oil and gas production as such. The initiatives include the Digital Energy corporate project, the list of indicators included in the Digital Maturity assessment of the Energy Infrastructure sector and the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation national project. Yet, there is not enough focus on the environmental sustainability, since the aim of the aforementioned tools is mostly to digitalise the entire industry before proceeding to specialised areas of expertise.
Nevertheless, more and more Russian companies and MNKT, in particular, start creating and financing in-house research and development internally because of becoming increasingly aware of how relevant corporate environment responsibility is. Similar projects may well turn out to be the first examples of implementing cutting-edge green technologies in Russia and push forward further development in this direction in the nearest future.