UPR Connectors - Drilling Waste
Summit Liability Solutions Inc. completed the drilling waste management as part of an urban pipeline replacement project at various locations throughout Alberta.
Comprised of 3 separate projects (two within Calgary city limits and the third outside of Lamont, Alberta), 16” lines were installed. The projects occurred from November, 2016 to January, 2017. Approximately 1360 m3 of drilling waste was disposed of following AER Directive 050 criteria via Landspray-While-Drilling (LWD), Mix-Bury-Cover (MBC), and landfill. The various projects utilized different drilling contractors with vastly different systems, resulting in unpredictable and varied waste volumes.
Initial disposal plans had to be revised on the fly in some instances due to unknown soil conditions and different waste distribution – i.e. rather than receiving a significant volume of fluids for the crossings, the Lamont project received mostly solids which were then disposed of onsite via MBC in both the entry and exit pits. Extreme weather conditions (-40C) presented disposal challenges for landspraying due to external heat (i.e. a boiler unit) not being available for the vacuum truck; this was countered by a change in procedure whereby fluids were only removed when a significant volume was available and could be landsprayed immediately (small volumes were freezing quickly on the truck).