SLURRY INJECTION OF DRILLING WASTES -
REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AND PRACTICES
Markus G. Puder*
John A. Veil
William Bryson
Argonne National Laboratory
955 L'Enfant Plaza, North Building, S.W.
Suite 6000
Washington, DC 20024
Voice: 202-488-2484
Fax: 202-488-2471
E-mail: puder@anl.gov
Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) has conducted a comprehensive feasibility evaluation of using slurry injection technology to dispose of drilling wastes for the U.S. Department of Energy. The regulatory portion of Argonne's evaluation is presented in the final report entitled Compendium of Regulatory Requirements Governing Underground Injection of Drilling Wastes (February 2003) (the Regulatory Compendium). This presentation describes the Regulatory Compendium, including the collection and organization of the pertinent information, and the findings and trends relative to the regulations and practices governing slurry injection in the United States. Drilling wastes are generally made up of used drilling fluids and drill cuttings. Slurry injection involves grinding solid or semisolid drilling wastes or otherwise reducing the particle size, mixing solid particles of suitable size with a fluid to create a slurry, and then injecting the slurry underground at a pressure high enough to fracture the receiving formation. When the pressure is reduced, the fluid bleeds off into the formation and the solids are trapped in place in the fractures. The use of the different forms of slurry injection has increased over the past decade, primarily in oil-producing areas such as the North Slope of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to slurry injection, the Regulatory Compendium surveys other injection technologies, including subfracture injection, annular injection, injection prior to plugging, disposal in abandoned salt caverns, and disposal in coal mines.
Acknowledgment. Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy under contract W-31-109-Eng-38. The submitted manuscript has been created by the University of Chicago as Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) under Contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.