Environmental Issues

Purpose
The Purpose of this Paper is to review the use of Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) technology in the oil and gas industry to reduce the environmental footprint and impact.

Introduction
Since the OCS moratoria were put in place 26 years ago, many technologies have been developed and utilized in extracting oil and gas to which have significantly reduced the environmental footprint and impacts. As stated in Robinson et al (2007), fugitive emissions such as hydrocarbon leaks from valves, piping connections, pump and compressor seals, and other piping system components that occur as part of the normal wear and tear in plant operations account for approximately 50 of total hydrocarbon emissions from process plants. There has been federal and state regulations aimed at controlling these emissions by enforcing that oil refineries and petrochemical plants to implement various technologies to address this problem. This review explores the need for these technologies in reducing environmental footprint in the oil and gas industry. This analysis therefore, assesses the development, operation, successes, relevance, and shortcomings of the LDAR system.

Methodology
One of the technologies used is the LDAR which is used to fix and repair leaks as soon as they are detected. A portable hydrocarbon leak detection instrument is used to survey valves, pump seals and compressor seals are surveyed for fugitive emissions. The LDAR equipment measures the hydrocarbon concentration in the air stream in parts per million by volume where the concentration exceeds the leak. The air and any leaked hydrocarbon are drawn into the probe and pass through a flame-ionization detector to measure the concentration of organic hydrocarbons (Robinson et al 2007).

Analysis and Discussion (General points to consider)
There are several ways of leak detection based on the kind of instrument used. The optical imaging leak technology uses active and passive sensors in form of video image which provides real-time information and allows identification of the exact source. This remote sensing option allows the scan of potential leaking pipes faster where an active imager focuses on an area as it illuminates it with laser radiation having a wavelength that is absorbed by the gas to be detected. The Sandia National Laboratory Camera as a portable gal imaging device is used. The gas attenuates the backscattered laser light reflected by sunlight as thermal radiation emitted by warm objects to appear as a dark cloud on the image. Therefore, the gas is visible in a passive image when its radiance differs from the background.

The Backscatter Absorption Gas Imaging also capitalized on Infra-Red (IR) light where the front run forward looking infrared (FLIR handheld camera is always pointed at the component of interest (Fluid Sealing Association, 2009).

Conclusion
The future and success of environmental footprint reduction will depend on the application of accurate and relatively precise technologies in identifying gas and oil leaks. This LDAR technology is a good breakthrough but much needs to be done so as to bridge the precision and accuracy levels. Based on the IR and light reflection, the technology is not that accurate especially in dark rooms or presence of shadowed areas. Remote Sensing technology requires much initiative in terms of coming up with accurate film and sensors. The true definition of leaks in terms of hydrocarbon quantities is still in contention.