Environmental and Health Issues in Unconventional Oil and Gas Development


Book Description

Environmental and Health Issues in Unconventional Oil and Gas Development offers a unique, non-partisan perspective relevant to the use of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, presenting clear and frank discussions on implications for a variety of stakeholders involved in unconventional oil and shale gas development. Much has changed since the first edition, including how UOGD is performed, changes in monitoring and control technologies, and new issues raised by both government and non-government stakeholders. The contributing authors address a wide range of relevant topics. The economics of hydraulic fracturing are discussed. Methane emissions, decarbonization, and responsibly sourced gas are explored in depth. The authors also look closely at climate risk and risk mitigation. Water issues are covered with a review of water quality impacts along with waste issues. This is followed by a detailed examination of health and safety in regard to occupational health, public health, risk perception, risk communication, and transportation. Finally, the editors wrap up with important discussions on environmental justice and environmental, social, and corporate governance. Readers will find much to consider and apply to their own work within this reference on the critical environmental issues facing the unconventional oil and gas industry.• Serves as a collective, up-to-date resource for academics and professionals in the oil and gas, environmental, health, and safety industries, as well as environmental scientists and policymakers• Features a multi-disciplinary and expert group of chapter authors from academia, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, and the oil and gas industry• Provides thoughtful discussion of the ongoing emissions intensity reduction in unconventional oil and gas from a combination of regulation, technology evolution, and voluntary efforts by operators




Oil and Gas: Global issues


Book Description

This first of two volumes of collected papers and essays charts the sequence of significant developments over the past 40 years of the most international of industries—that of gas and oil. Explained are the physical attributes of oil and gas resources, reserves, and supply in their economic and political settings, with an emphasis on the quantities. This book also explores the economic and political inputs to the global oil and gas industry’s organization and markets since the early 1960s and the consequences of a loss of control, not only for the industry itself, but also for the western world’s economy and its political stability.







Oil


Book Description

Access to oil and natural gas, and their prices, are hugely important axes of geo-political strategy and global economic prospects and have been for a century. This book, written by a Financial Times journalist who has long covered the energy sector, provides readers with the essential information they need for understanding the shifting structure of the global oil and gas economy: where the reserves lie, who produces what, trade patterns, consumption trends, prices. The book highlights political and social issues in the global energy sector -- the domestic inequality, civil conflict and widespread poverty that dependence on oil exports inflicts on developing countries and the strategies of wealthy countries (especially the United States) to control oil-rich regions. Energy demand is on a strong upward trend. The reality of the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels cannot be doubted. What are likely to be the human consequences: changing disease vectors, unprecedented flooding, mass migration? And what is to be done both in the wealthy countries where consumerism drives increasing growth in demand and in developing countries aiming to grow their economies faster? Are alternative energy sources a panacea? Or will the much vaunted hydrogen economy still be based on oil, natural gas and coal? Here is a book that addresses what is perhaps the most pervasive and destabilizing of the issues facing humanity.




The Political Ecology of Oil and Gas Activities in the Nigerian Aquatic Ecosystem


Book Description

The Political Ecology of Oil and Gas Activities in the Nigerian Aquatic Ecosystem reviews the current status of the ecosystems and economic implications of oil and gas development in Nigeria, a key oil-producing state. The ecological and economic impacts of oil and gas development, particularly in developing nations, are crucial topics for ecologists, natural resource professionals and pollution researchers to understand. This book takes an integrative approach to these problems through the lens of one of the key oil-producing nations, linking natural and human systems through the valuation of ecosystem services. - Provides background information on Nigerian aquatic environments, its local history of oil exploration and a review of the physical chemistry of crude oil - Reviews global and national perspectives on the oil and gas industry from a physical ecological, to a socio-political and economic ecological perspective - Demonstrates real-life situations of the interactions and impacts of Nigerian petroleum production on the environment and local populations through case studies







The Fracking Debate


Book Description

Over roughly the past decade, oil and gas production in the United States has surged dramatically—thanks largely to technological advances such as high-volume hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking.” This rapid increase has generated widespread debate, with proponents touting economic and energy-security benefits and opponents highlighting the environmental and social risks of increased oil and gas production. Despite the heated debate, neither side has a monopoly on the facts. In this book, Daniel Raimi gives a balanced and accessible view of oil and gas development, clearly and thoroughly explaining the key issues surrounding the shale revolution. The Fracking Debate directly addresses the most common questions and concerns associated with fracking: What is fracking? Does fracking pollute the water supply? Will fracking make the United States energy independent? Does fracking cause earthquakes? How is fracking regulated? Is fracking good for the economy? Coupling a deep understanding of the scholarly research with lessons from his travels to every major U.S. oil- and gas-producing region, Raimi highlights stories of the people and communities affected by the shale revolution, for better and for worse. The Fracking Debate provides the evidence and context that have so frequently been missing from the national discussion of the future of oil and gas production, offering readers the tools to make sense of this critical issue.




Processing of Heavy Crude Oils


Book Description

Unconventional heavy crude oils are replacing the conventional light crude oils slowly but steadily as a major energy source. Heavy crude oils are cheaper and present an opportunity to the refiners to process them with higher profit margins. However, the unfavourable characteristics of heavy crude oils such as high viscosity, low API gravity, low H/C ratio, chemical complexity with high asphaltenes content, high acidity, high sulfur and increased level of metal and heteroatom impurities impede extraction, pumping, transportation and processing. Very poor mobility of the heavy oils, due to very high viscosities, significantly affects production and transportation. Techniques for viscosity reduction, drag reduction and in-situ upgrading of the crude oil to improve the flow characteristics in pipelines are presented in this book. The heavier and complex molecules of asphaltenes with low H/C ratios present many technological challenges during the refining of the crude oil, such as heavy coking on catalysts. Hydrogen addition and carbon removal are the two approaches used to improve the recovery of value-added products such as gasoline and diesel. In addition, the heavy crude oil needs pre-treatment to remove the high levels of impurities before the crude oil can be refined. This book introduces the major challenges and some of the methods to overcome them.




The Regulation of Decommissioning, Abandonment and Reuse Initiatives in the Oil and Gas Industry


Book Description

In the process of resolving disputes, it is not uncommon for parties to justify actions otherwise in breach of their obligations by invoking the need to protect some aspect of the elusive concept of public order. Until this thoroughly researched book, the criteria and factors against which international dispute bodies assess such claims have remained unclear. Now, by providing an in-depth comparative analysis of relevant jurisprudence under four distinct international dispute resolution systems – trade, investment, human rights and international commercial arbitration – the author of this invaluable book identifies common core benchmarks for the application of the public order exception. To achieve the broadest possible scope for her analysis, the author examines the public order exception’s function, role and application within the following international dispute resolution systems: relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements as enforced by the organization’s Dispute Settlement Body and Appellate Body; international investment agreements as enforced by competent Arbitral Tribunals and Annulment Committees under the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes; provisions under the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights as enforced by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, respectively; and the New York Convention as enforced by national tribunals across the world. Controversies, tensions and pitfalls inherent in invoking the public order exception are elucidated, along with clear guidelines on how arguments may be crafted in order to enhance prospects of success. Throughout, tables and graphs systematize key aspects of the relevant jurisprudence under each of the dispute resolution systems analysed. As an immediate practical resource for lawyers on any side of a dispute who wish to invoke or strengthen a public order exception claim, the book’s systematic analysis will be welcomed by lawyers active in WTO disputes, international investment arbitration, human rights law or enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Academics and policymakers will find a signal contribution to the ongoing debate on the existence, legal basis, content and functions of the transnational public order.




From Big Oil to Big Green


Book Description

How Big Oil can transform itself into Big Green through reparation and decarbonization to rectify the harm it has done through fossil fuels. In From Big Oil to Big Green, Marco Grasso examines the responsibility of the oil and gas industry for the climate crisis and develops a moral framework that lays out its duties of reparation and decarbonization to allay the harm it has done. By framing climate change as a moral issue and outlining the industry’s obligation to tackle it, Grasso shows that Big Oil is a central, yet overlooked, agent of climate ethics and policy. Grasso argues that by indiscriminately flooding the global economy with fossil fuels—while convincing the public that halting climate change is a matter of consumer choice, that fossil fuels are synonymous with energy, and that a decarbonized world would take civilization back to the Stone Age—Big Oil is morally responsible for the climate crisis. He explains that it has managed to avoid being held financially accountable for past harm and that its duty of reparation has never been theoretically developed or justified. With this book, he fills those gaps. After making the moral case for climate reparations and their implementation, Grasso develops Big Oil’s duty of decarbonization, which entails its transformation into Big Green by phasing out carbon emissions from its processes and, especially, its products.