Chapter I

Introduction

The evolution of human civilization is synonymous with how it meets its energy needs. Yet, for the first time in human history, an energy crisis has seized the entire globe and the very sustainability of civilization itself has suddenly come into question. If there is any truth to the claim that Humanity has progressed as a species, it must exhibit, as part of its basis, some evidence that overall efficiency in energy consumption has improved. In terms of energy consumption, this would mean that less energy is required per capita to sustain life today than, say, 50 years earlier. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite has happened. We used to assume that resources were infinite and human needs finite. After all, it takes relatively little to sustain an individual human life. However, things have changed and today we are told, repeatedly: resources are finite and human needs infinite. What is going on? Some Nobel Laureates (e.g., Robert Curl) or environmental activists (e.g., David Suzuki) have blamed the entire technology development regime. Others have blamed petroleum operations and the petroleum industry. Of course, in the context of increasing oil prices, the petroleum sector becomes a particularly easy target. Then, there is US President George W. Bush, talking about oil addiction. Even his most ardent detractors embrace this comment as some sign of deep thinking. Numerous alternate fuel projects have been launched - but what do they propose? The same inefficient and contaminated process that got us into trouble with fossil fuel! Albert Einstein famously stated, The thinking that got you into the problem, is not going to get you out. As Enron collapsed, everyone seemed even more occupied with trying to recoup by using the same (mis-)management scheme that led to its demise. In this book, a new management approach is proposed. It addresses the problem of petroleum resources from the root. It proposes a solution that is inherently sustainable. With this management scheme, we would not only cover up the oil addition but would cure it. As such, the healthy lifestyle will not be compromised. Chapter 2 introduces the guidelines for a management practice that can truly say: Enron never again! It provides step-by-step guidelines toward achieving sustainability by breaking out of the management practice that can only be characterized as managing through fear. A manager of a service company once said, We excel by doing things faster, safer, and cheaper. Doing things faster, of course, does not mean anything particularly beneficial if it also entails violating a characteristic time (who would want chickens that were hatched in only a few hours?). Even a nuclear bomb might appear to be safe, if the duration of safety (At) is small enough. Anything is cheap if the real costs are not considered. The manager later admitted that this safer, faster, and cheaper was also a recipe for continuing a short-term approach, the likes of which had just collapsed (at Enron). For this approach, however, he placed the blame on the lawyers and business managers who had taken over petroleum management. Chapter 2 recognizes that criticizing, especially this blameshifting kind, is easy, but neither necessary nor sufficient. This chapter does not blame anyone. However, it corrects the management style and introduces the notion of and proposes the content of management practices based on the long term. This can be characterized as the approach of obliquity, which is well-known for curing both long-term and short-term problems. It stands 180 degrees opposite to the conventional bantlaid approach, which prevailed in the Enron decades. This book promises the greening of every practice in the petroleum industry, from management style :o upstream to downstream. In the past, petroleum engineers only focused on drilling, production and trans-

Chapter I

Introduction

portation, and reservoir engineering. This book starts with management and continues through exploration all the way up to refining and gas processing. In the past, exploration meant increasing the chances of production. Reminiscent of the GDP vs spending graph that ignores, or otherwise neglects to clarify, whether spending is for wasting or for reconstruction, petroleum exploration practices were for a long time looked at only as a means of increasing tangible benefits, either in physical oil production, or financial gain, or both. In the end, many of these cases ended up costing Humanity much more in the form of environmental damages, which, as Chapter 2 points out, were never part of the management equation. Chapter 3 shows how current practices of exploration can be rendered environmentally acceptable. It discusses the long-term impacts of some current practices and provides guidelines for exploration practices that will allow us to operate even in the most sensitive parts of the Earth. It shows how to work with the communities that would be most affected by the exploration practices and talks about how to,humanize the environment that includes all species. Chapter 4, discusses drilling and production as they are practiced today. It also includes the topics of waterjet drilling, laser drilling, and production operations that use a no-chemical approach. There is also a discussion of zero-waste oil production. These are progressive topics that show clearly how replacing current practices will benefit both the short and the long term. With this approach, the cost-benefit analysis does not have to be adjusted every quarter and a manager can plan well ahead of time with few, if any, surprises in the future. Chapter 5 discusses waste management practices - and challenges the implicit assumption that waste is waste by boldly proposing the conversion of waste liabilities into assets as a general principle of waste management overall, and not just when or where it might produce maximum profits in the short term. Inspired by Nature, this waste management practice truly converts every waste item into something useful for others. As a result, the time-tested, yet recently touted as an absurd concept, zero-waste approach is implemented. Chapter 6 addresses reservoir engineering at its fundamental theoretical level, proposing methods for solving non-linear problems without first linearizing their conditions. Anyone reading through this chapter will then know all about current practices in reservoir engineering and see all the shortcomings of the current practices, from both theoretical and practical standpoints. There is no need to despair at the current conditions, as solutions are proposed for all problems, ranging from wellbore monitoring to well testing. Step-by-step guidelines are provided for addressing some of the most difficult problems encountered in reservoir engineering practices. Chapter 7 elaborates on rendering enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes sustainable, using waste to recover more oil. This approach offers a triple dividend: converting waste into an asset, enhancing the environment by engineering an inherently pro-Nature approach, and using locally-available materials. As Chapter 2 points out, such a bottom-up management approach has long-been considered the right thing to do, but until now, has never been converted into engineering practices. This chapter explains why so many EOR projects have failed, both economically and technically. It goes on to show how the recovery schemes can be implemented to drastically increase the probability of success. It provides a 15-point procedure so any company can find the optimum EOR solutions, uniquely suitable to their needs, while humanizing the environment at the same time. Real life examples are given to demonstrate how it is possible for anyone to increase efficiency and productivity while drastically decreasing environmental liabilities. Chapter 8 examines the fields of transportation, refining and processing. The long-standing assumption that these functions must be as highly-capitalized and as technologically complex as possible, in order to be profitable, is relaxed. Such approaches as tackling the hydrate problem in pipelines by employing bacteria instead of ethanol, refining by employing solar heating in place of thermal (and chemically highly toxic) cracking, and processing by means of natural absorbents are taken up. Of course, all these solutions are offered after pointing out the long-term implications of current practices. It is shown that petroleum products are not the culprit (not even plastic), but the processes that are responsible. Alternatives to numerous toxic chemicals that are used are proposed in order to truly clean up the current mess. This is fitting considering

Introduction 3

the discovery that there are some 4000 toxins, most from oil addiction, recent being released into the environment. In Chapter 9, the thorny issues of offshore-rig and production decommissioning are reassessed. Far from having to remain closeted as one of the petroleum industrys dirty little secrets - very much like the waste disposal problem confronting managers of nuclear power plants - the same inherent-sustainability criteria informing the rest of the book are applied to develop and elaborate a number of pro-Nature practices and possibilities. Chapter 10 advances the essential conclusions: the pathways advanced to handle energy production and development can be either pro-Nature or anti-Nature. Any course of action based on short-term considerations must manipulate short-term surpluses or shortages in the natural environment, thereby disrupting the normal operation of the laws of conservation of mass and of energy. Consequently, intervening on this short-term basis will harm the environment and, with it, the possibilities and prospects for Humanity as a whole. On the other hand, any intervention planned on the basis of keeping the long term in mind must operate within the characteristic boundary conditions of the natural environment itself. Therefore, in the long term, there can be no such thing as surpluses or shortages in Nature, and therefore, costs and benefits planned around such boundary conditions can never violate the natural order, ensuring such intervention will be truly sustainable. Chapter 11 provides a comprehensive list of references. Some 50 pages of complete references make sure the pro-Nature, pro-environment technology train that was set in motion in this book never stops.