Impact of Natural Hazards on Oil and Gas Extraction : The South Caspian Basin

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union almost a decade ago, there has been rapid evolution of interactions between the Western nations and individual countries of the former Soviet Union. As part of that interaction, the autonomous independent Republic of Azerbaijan through its scientific arm, the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences under the Directorship of Academician Akif Ali-Zadeh and Deputy Director Ibrahim Guliev, arranged for personnel to be seconded to the University of South Carolina. The idea here was to see to what extent a quantitative understanding could be achieved of the evolution of the Azerbaijan part of the South Caspian Basin from dynamical, thermal and hydrocarbon perspectives. The Azeris brought with them copious amounts of data collected over decades which, together with the quantitative numerical codes available at USC, enabled a concerted effort to be put forward, culminating in two large books (Evolution of the South Caspian Basin: Geological Risks and Probable Hazards, 675 pps; and The South Caspian Basin: Stratigraphy, Geochemistry, and Risk Analysis, of which were published by the Azerbaijan Academy of 472 pps. ) both Sciences, and also many scientific papers. Thus, over the last four to five years an integrated comprehensive start has been made to understand the hydrocarbon proneness of the South Caspian Basin. In the course of the endeavor to understand the basinal evolution, it became clear that a variety of natural hazards occur in the Basin.

There exists a broad range of natural hazards, including seismicity, faulting, fracturing, mud volcano eruptions, mud island motion, overpressure and lateral stress. These natural hazards, along with others, affect the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, especially in offshore operations. For each potential hazard, an estimation of their frequencies of occurrence, in addition to a quantitative assessment of the possible consequences, must be made.
Impact of Natural Hazards on Oil and Gas Extraction: The South Caspian Basin provides technical details regarding these natural hazards, using the South Caspian Basin as a model. Here, the variation of natural hazards is documented in a geological setting. Accordingly, the scales of possible damage for each situation can be compared, and an understanding provided of the influence each hazard type has on every other.

Front Matter....Pages i-xxi Introduction to the Quantitative Assessment of Geological Hazards....Pages 1-13 Earthquakes Hazards....Pages 15-29 Fault and Fracture Hazards....Pages 31-48 Mud Volcano Eruptions and Flame Hazards....Pages 49-122 Mud Flow Hazards....Pages 123-147 Hydrate Hazards....Pages 149-169 Gas Hazards....Pages 171-216 Breccia Hazards....Pages 217-249 Overpressure and Lateral Stress in Sedimentary Formations....Pages 251-281 Mud Island and Mud Diapir Motion Hazards....Pages 283-291 Hazards of Variability in Reservoir Characteristics for South Caspian Oil Fields....Pages 293-325 Natural Hazards in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Assessments....Pages 327-333 Summary of Potential Natural Hazards....Pages 335-338 Back Matter....Pages 339-353