Reduction of Footprint and Restoration of Function: An Approach to Cumulative Effects Management

Reduction of Footprint and Restoration of Function: An Approach to Cumulative Effects Management Roger Creasey; Roger Creasey Shell Canada Limited Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Lisa Fischer Lisa Fischer Shell Canada Limited Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, March 2004. Paper Number: SPE-86686-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/86686-MS Published: March 29 2004 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Creasey, Roger, and Lisa Fischer. "Reduction of Footprint and Restoration of Function: An Approach to Cumulative Effects Management." Paper presented at the SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, March 2004. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/86686-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability Search Advanced Search AbstractThe oil and gas industry tends to create numerous linear disturbances during the evolution of conventional field development. Access roads to wellsites, pipeline right-of-ways (ROWs), power lines, and seismic lines all contribute to other linear features created by forestry, mining, and public roads. Management of the resulting cumulative disturbance is difficult as there is usually a lack of land disturbance thresholds, holistic guidance from regulators, and individual companies can only manage their own operations and project design.Shell Canada is addressing its responsibility to control the contribution to this type of cumulative effect. This is being accomplished through improvements in the integration of project planning, reduction of the physical and effective ecological footprint of facilities, collaboration with other industries, and restoring the effectiveness of wildlife habitat. Where possible, an internal corporate policy of "no net increase" in linear developments is adopted.This paper will describe situations where Shell Canada is implementing practices to reduce the regional cumulative effects by managing its incremental disturbances on the land.IntroductionThe issue of cumulative effects has gained prominence in the regulatory approval processes with respect to oil and gas operations. The public have also gained an understanding that as many environmental management systems provide a basis for individual projects, there lacks a means to deal with the myriad of other activities that usually affect the landscape. Groups opposed to development have also noted the difficulty that governments and industrial promoters have dealing with the complete picture of land use activities, and thus focus on the cumulative effects question that is so hard to answer. It is accepted now that an individual company certainly has the ability to assess cumulative effects, but can only manage those effects it has direct control over. No single company or sector of industry can address cumulative effects in the broader sense, but that same company can manage its own component of the larger cumulative picture.The effects of surface disturbances may go far beyond the actual physical area as such disturbances also affect ecological processes. Direct loss of critical habitat and fragmentation of the landscape are among the possibly significant effects that may result.Shell Canada has acknowledged that its natural gas field development activities create numerous disturbances on the land base in which it operates. However, Shell also believes it has a responsibility to manage those effects to be as low as practical, and thus has implemented several approaches to project design and operations that reduce the incremental effects those projects may have. Both physical and ecological footprint can be reduced when planning is used to manage the problem.The approach adopted by Shell Canada can be illustrated by describing several cases where innovative design, new processes, or state-of-the-art technology has been implemented to assist in the reduction of the incremental effects a project may have. The areas to be described here cover the activities of:seismic operations;wellsite and facility construction;access (road) management; and,integrated planning. Keywords: access road, spe 86686, reduction, reservoir characterization, canada, seismic program, footprint, pipeline, society of petroleum engineers, landscape Subjects: Reservoir Characterization, Environment, Seismic processing and interpretation This content is only available via PDF. 2004. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.

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