Environmental Management

When drilling onshore, WellPerform is often operating in areas where protection of the environment and especially the ground water is given high priority by the authorities – and ourselves.

For that reason we have the following guiding principle for all operations:

“Before drilling, all possible risk mitigations must be in place to prevent damage to the ground water”

The following paragraphs gives examples of some of the measurements that are implemented in our design philosophy and how we operate in order to ensure we have the highest standards within Environmental Management.

Ground Water

Based on available geologic information, a certified water well driller will routinely drill a well and install a steel casing to a depth below the lowest ground water reservoirs in the specific area.

The steel pipe is cemented in place and at surface it is cemented into a waterproof system of a cellar and a concrete pad ensuring that no potential or accidental spill can leak and contaminate the surrounding soil and ground water.

The ground under the drilling rig area is protected by a waterproof membrane and a layer of paving stones or concrete ensuring that no spill can permeate into the soil or ground water. Rainwater and potential spill are collected in a drainage system and via sand traps and separators piped into a waterproof basin from where it is transported to an external treatment plant approved by the authorities.

Waste

Waste from the welfare area, workshops and other parts of the site are segregated and removed by a certified waste collecting company.

Cuttings from the drilling are collected into containers and transported to a deposit in a way approved by the authorities. Drilling fluid will either be re-cycled for use in other wells or disposed of in accordance with statutory regulations. Prior to starting the drilling operation all waste permits must be in place.

Additives

By far the majority of the additives used in the drilling fluid are common components like salt, barites (clay), sodium-bicarbonate (baking powder) etc. Only additives approved by the authorities, identified by datasheets (MSDS) and registered in the relevant databases will be used for the drilling operation (REACH, PROBAS etc.).

Noise Protection

The equipment used will be selected based on low-noise propagation. Its noise level will be checked when in place and running under operational conditions in order to ensure that the resulting noise level of the plant is below what is accepted by the authorities. If required noise reducing safety walls will be installed.

Air Pollution

Exhaust from machinery and equipment will be limited to the absolute minimum. Trucks will not be allowed to idle, and high priority will be given to have combustion engines replaced by electric equipment whenever possible.

Dust will be minimized by spraying with water or changing the surface cover.

Traffic

During the preparing of the site, some construction trucks will be required. It will be a limited number of trucks operating within normal working hours. During the daily drilling operation some 6-10 trucks pr. day are likely to remove and deliver various types of equipment and material.

Illumination

The site will be illuminated during the dark hours in accordance with the regulations, but to the extent possible without jeopardizing safety, the illumination will be minimized and directed only at the worksites.