In reading various industry magazines and
blogs, one can’t help noticing the frequency of spill and leak events in the
oil industry these days.
Quoted from Processing Magazine:
More than 7,600 oil spills and leaks were
recorded in 2013 in the top 15 states for onshore oil and gas activities,
according to a new analysis by EnergyWire based on state data. This is a
13-percent increase on the previous year, even though overall drilling activity
remained generally flat over that period.
The total number of incidents including
spills, blowouts and leaks at drilling sites came in at 7,662, equaling more
than 20 per day, EnergyWire said. The majority of these spills were relatively
small and were contained quickly, before any serious damage was caused.
However, the combined volume of oil, fracking fluid, fracking wastewater and
other liquids that were released in them amounted to 26 million gallons. Some
of the increase could be put down to new reporting requirements that were
introduced in several states last year, but the number of spills went up even
if those were not factored in.
In terms of regional distribution, the
Bakken Shale recorded some of the most dramatic increases in spills and leak
rates. Specifically, Montana saw the sharpest
rise in spills (48 percent), followed by North
Dakota (42 percent). Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
reported 321 incidents in 2013, landing at the top of the chart, leaving
ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum far behind with 256 and 240 spills,
respectively, the data shows.
More than a million gallons of diluted bitumen leaked into |
It should be noted that this data based
only on the top 15 states in just the USA . The world-wide figures are
undoubtedly much higher. The rush to extract fossil fuels from the earth is
evidently not without its challenges. The familiar expression “haste makes
waste’ seems to be appropriate, especially in regions that have had a recent
surge in oil and natural gas extraction.
Looking elsewhere - Lawrenceville Plasma Physics in Middlesex , New
Jersey have been working on controlled nuclear fusion
using dense plasma focusing. If this project succeeds, perhaps it will reduce the
world’s unhealthy reliance on burning fossil fuels to obtain energy.
They have a crowd-funding initiative to
help stimulate awareness and raise money. The folks at Next Big Future reported
on it here.
Oil spill photograph courtesy Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from article at National Geographic - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110919-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline-groundwater/
Fusion Energy Flow Chart from Next Big Future link shown above
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