Oil-based drilling fluids: are they an environmental risk?

Abstract

From the Abstract: “The use of oil-based drilling fluids has been discouraged in hydrocarbon exploration and production in the marine environment but these drilling fluids are presently being used to a considerable degree in the Jnited Kingdom and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. Field studies in the North Sea have demonstrated only localized impacts around individual drilling sites, including those sites where ‘toxic’ diesel oils were employed as base oils in drilling fluids (1-2). Yet the question of disposal of cuttings contaminated with oil from drilling fluids remains somewhat controversial (3-5), including in Canada where oil-based fluids have been permitted for use on an experimental basis in the Arctic and off the East Coast.”