Impact assessment of drilling waste generated in “Eden Field” offshore, Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

An assessment was carried out on the pollution impact potentials of drilling waste generated from wells X and Y in “Eden Field,” offshore Niger Delta. Eleven samples each were collected from well X (8 treated and 3 untreated cuttings) and well Y (6 treated cuttings and 5 spent muds). The samples were subjected to three separate analyses, namely, oil-on-cutting analysis using Dean and Stark reflux method, heavy metal analysis using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Unicam 929), and toxicity test analysis using bioassay procedure on test organisms such as Desmoscaris trispinosa and Palaemonetes africanus all in attempt to detect their pollution potential. The results showed that the oil-on-cutting analysis for the well X samples was between 15.8 and 17.5 % for unwashed cuttings and between 4.6 and 5.1 % for washed cuttings, while that for well Y samples was between 3.49 and 4.27 % for washed cuttings and 1.69 to 2.59 % for the drill mud samples. The heavy metal analysis on the wells X and Y samples showed absence of mercury, cadmium concentration ranged from 0.52 to 0.99 mg/kg for well X and from 0.69 to 0.78 mg/kg for well Y samples. The result of the toxicity test of samples from well X on D. trispinosa showed that 96-h LC₅₀ occurred at 9800 to 10,900 mg/l for the washed drill cutting and 6200 to 6700 mg/l for the unwashed drill cuttings. On the other hand, the toxicity test on P. africanus indicated more resistant to the toxicity of the drill cuttings as 96-h LC₅₀ was achieved at higher concentrations. At 96-h exposure, the concentration that killed 50 % of the test organism (LC₅₀) occurred at 14,000 to 16,900 mg/l for the washed cuttings and 10,300 to 11,350 mg/l for the unwashed cuttings. Similarly, the 96-h LC₅₀ was achieved on washed drill cuttings from well Y at concentrations of 9800 to 10,400 mg/l using D. tripinosa and 11,600 to 17,200 mg/l using P. africanus. The study has shown that oil-on-cutting content, heavy metal concentrations, and toxicity level did not indicate any major risk to the environment as the treatment and cleaning of the drilling wastes on the rig helped in reducing the concentration of all the contaminants in compliance with the regulatory limits.