Fossil fuels have been a reliable energy source for many years. Recently, the oil and gas production industry has taken measures to develop procedures that deliver high efficiency and mitigate negative impacts on the environment. With over 23 years of professional experience in the industry, Samuel Olayinka gives his perspective on the sector’s shift toward sustainability and related challenges.
Olayinka’s significant accomplishments as a senior operations supervisor led up to this point from his graduation from Rivers State University, Nigeria, with a PGD in Chemical/Petroleum Engineering, an MSc In Engineering Management Science at ESUT, Nigeria, and a PhD in View-Environmental Science Management at ESUT, Nigeria. Alongside his job as a supervisor, he was a production project coordinator with the following responsibilities: developing project schedules, directing oil well construction, and resolving worker conflicts. Olayinka led his engineering team, teaching them how to use machinery and troubleshooting issues. He assigned tasks to each crew member to aid the drilling phase.
Samuel knew the gravity of company codes and government-issued safety protocols so that no workers injured themselves during subsurface operations. He upheld operational ethics when setting up his engineering team’s rig and performed real-time drill data analysis. His duties were not limited to observing changes in pump pressure, the drill bit’s weight, and the penetration rate.
After five years of drilling experience, Samuel shifted to the Cost control section as an engineer and became a senior field production coordinator. He was responsible for arranging digging projects involving exploring the land and managing production operations. Olayinka provided daily, weekly, monthly, and annual reports of fossil fuel production to his overseer. He regularly consulted with his clients to generate production schedules, project budgets, scope, and sustainable costs. Furthermore, he implemented strategies and made recommendations regarding capital expenditures and efficient processes. For example, he co-authored the “Modelling the Pressure Transverse for Foam Drilling Operation Well” research and analysis. The work recommends a new drilling model that improves the process due to the accumulation of kinetic energy, making its field application much more accessible.
As a leader in the oil and natural gas production industry, Samuel sees evidence of the evolving field. It has shifted toward sustainability due to its environmental impact and adverse weather conditions. During the extraction process, as a part of gas flaring, excess hydrocarbons enter the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. The flare stacks have negatively impacted local inhabitants with acid rain creation and crop damage.
Additionally, Samuel has recognized the significance of flooding as an oil and natural gas supply issue because of its detrimental effects on revenue and expenses. Floods risk infrastructure and the ecosystem because oil extractions release chemicals into groundwater, which floodwaters then carry into rivers and other streams. Intense floods can expose and move underground pipes, potentially resulting in expensive ruptures. They may even cause electrocution if they reveal underground cables and workers are nearby.
Olayinka has examined opportunities and strategies for sustainable petroleum delivery and gas compression to compensate for challenges in the mining sector. He became a Member of the Society Of Petroleum Worldwide (SPE). Moreover, he introduced Flare Gas Recovery Systems, which are modular converters that recover fuel from gas flaring to reduce the amount of lost hydrocarbons. These high-tech units separate the byproducts – gas, water, and fossil fuels – and send the gasoline to an amine washing system. Samuel also manages multistage gas compression at low- to medium- to high-pressure production plants.
About the Author
With energy conservation as a facet of his expertise, Maximo Mahoney is a renewable energy specialist who strives to understand the environmental impact of fuel production operations. He communicates with CEOs to get an insight into their functions’ efficiency.