RIASSUNTO
Abstract
Sustainable development is about ensuring a better quality of life for all. This means a fundamental balancing of our economic, environmental and social responsibility. The paper explores why this is important to Shell and how technologies in E&P demonstrate our commitment to contribute to sustainable development, particularly in their contribution to:
Efficiency improvement
Reduced footprint
Emission reduction
The paper addresses the fundamentals of technologies for the reduction of emissions and discharges, as well as those that improve reservoir recovery, improved economics, well performance and surface operations techniques and methodologies. These are illustrated by examples selected from around the world, both onshore and offshore.
Technology examples assessed include Virtual Reality, 4D seismic, Smart Wells and Expandable tubulars from downhole as well as surface facilities technologies, like ""Twister"" and new technologies such as fuel cells and the Hydrogen Economy. Implementation through ""Gamechanger"" and Realise the Limit methodologies are addressed, as is project risk management using Value Assurance Reviews from a Sustainable Development perspective, utilising the concepts of total risk management.
Remediation is also illustrated with some specific examples of how this is applied and due relevance is given to the social dimension of Sustainable Development.
Contributing to Sustainable Development means a fundamental commitment to balancing our economic, environmental and social responsibility and this paper demonstrates how E&P technology plays a significant role in contributing to the sustainable future.
Introduction
Sustainable Development (SD) is about ensuring a better quality of life for everyone - now and for future generations. This is important to Shell and in particular the contribution of our technologies in E&P to demonstrate our commitment to contribute to sustainable development, or SD as it is often abreviated.
The Brundtland definition, ""meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"", is the most widely accepted today. It serves as the starting point for the vast majority of sustainable development policy-making by governments, citizens' groups, industry and environmental organizations. Brundtland saw sustainable development as ""a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investment, the re-orientation of technology development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations"". (Ref.1.).
Some would have preferred her to question the need for economic growth - after all, things can often be made better without being made bigger. Since Brundtland, more emphasis has been placed on ""eco-efficiency"", which weighs the economic and other benefits of a product or production process against its environmental (and sometimes social) impacts.
This paper explores and presents the ways in which the E&P industry is developing hydrocarbon energy sources, through the uses of technologies that are contributing to the sustainability of this and future generations.
Some of the key elements of the Shell Technology SD strategy ""A Better Future for the world..."" are to:
Ensure that our technologies and investments meet SD principles
Focus effective development and deployment of technology to meet stakeholder needs
This paper addresses how our EP Technology is meeting some of these challenges through business developments and processes, with examples of Smart Wells, Expandable tubulars and Twister.