Basic conceptual guidelines for a sustainable gas/oil field development
G. Gambolati, P. Teatini, M. Ferronato
Dept. Mathematical Methods and Models for Scientific
Applications, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic land subsidence above compacting gas/oil fields can raise great concern in areas where the
occurrence may impact significantly on the local environment. A practice to be recommended and implemented
prior to the resources development should address the actual risk connected with the field production and
define a possibly shared strategy with the aim at compounding as much as possible the potential adversarial
conflicts represented by the various stakeholders involved, e.g. private associations with interests in
the affected area and public agencies including those responsible for water management, land-use planning,
industrial development, and environmental protection. In other words the field production programme
ultimately planned and set up should take care of what is now known as a ''sustainable development''. The
basic steps toward meeting the above objective should include: 1) an analysis of the environmental,
economical and social impact; 2) a plan for measuring and monitoring the process during the field life and
also for some while after the field abandonment; 3) the design of prospective remedial actions if the
impact exceeds the limiting threshold magnitude originally and responsively agreed upon by the parties
involved. To implement those steps mathematical models and numerical predictions may play a most important
role. The present communication describes a tentative roadmap leading to the definition of general
conceptual guidelines that can help plan a sustainable field development and design an acceptable
exploitation programme.
