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SCENARI - SCENARIOS
lo sfruttamento di giacimenti che, con i processi tradizionali,
risultavano antieconomici. Un ruolo importante è
stato svolto dall’automazione che ha consentito il funzionamento
di piattaforme di produzione senza presidio
umano. Ma ci sono anche altre soluzioni interessanti. “Ad
esempio”, informa Mazzei, “sotto la voce piattaforme, c’è
un capitolo sullo sviluppo dei campi marginali. Piccoli giacimenti
in acque tradizionali il cui singolo sfruttamento
non sarebbe conveniente, ma che, raggruppati insieme
con tecniche appropriate, diventano economici”.
Il metano e la tigre. L’ultima parte è dedicata al trasporto
e allo stoccaggio degli idrocarburi liquidi e del gas.
“Nella precedente enciclopedia”, precisa Romano, “c’era
soltanto un capitolo, dedicato agli stoccaggi, di modeste
dimensioni e di scarsa rilevanza. In questo volume c’è
una grande attenzione al tema, che è sempre più centrale
nelle strategie del mercato del gas”.
Il volume evidenzia l’evoluzione del trasporto degli idrocarburi
e dei relativi aspetti tecnici, ambientali, di sicurezza,
di normative e accordi internazionali.
Il trasporto del greggio via nave è una tecnologia antica,
che in questi ultimi anni ha avuto una forte evoluzione
(esempi, il recupero delle acque di lavaggio e il
doppio scafo) rivolta a garantire una maggior sicurezza
e quindi un impatto ambientale quasi nullo e un rischio
molto ridotto. Le tecnologie di trasporto del gas liquefatto
sono più recenti: gli impianti di liquefazione e rigassificazione
del gas e le navi criogeniche sono state
realizzate, fin dall’inizio, con tecnologie attente all’ambiente
e alla sicurezza.
La posa delle condotte, sia a terra sia in mare, richiede una
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valutazione dell’impatto ambientale in grado di evitare ogni
intervento “distruttivo” che possa modificare l’equilibrio
ecologico. “Se posiamo un pipeline attraverso la Siberia”,
spiega Brighenti, “dobbiamo farlo con tutti gli accorgimenti
perché la condotta non tagli in due la zona delle tigri siberiane”.
Il terzo volume sarà dedicato all’innovazione e alla
sostenibilità dell’industria petrolifera, ma quest’ultimo
tema pervade in maniera trasversale tutta l’opera.
Una grande intuizione: valorizzare il gas. Molti temi della
nuova enciclopedia non erano neppure pensabili negli
anni Sessanta. Come, ad esempio, la valorizzazione del
gas associato al petrolio. “Il gas non era contemplato nei
contratti di ricerca”, ricorda Mazzei, “perché si mirava al
petrolio. La scoperta di un campo a gas era una sfortuna:
il giacimento veniva abbandonato perché le infrastrutture
per trasporto del gas erano considerate antieconomiche.
Il gas associato al petrolio era bruciato. Adesso invece
andiamo a cercare il gas e, nel futuro degli idrocarburi, il
gas naturale sarà sempre più predominante”.
“La storia dell’Eni”, commenta Romano, “è una storia
anomala rispetto a quella delle altre oil company. L’Eni,
fin dalle sue origini, ha valorizzato il metano che è l’idrocarburo
del nostro sottosuolo”.
La nuova edizione dell’enciclopedia ha stimolato un confronto
tra il mondo degli idrocarburi di oggi e quello di
quarant’anni fa. E il futuro? Ci sono alcune tecnologie di
frontiera che oggi sono in una fase embrionale, come la
trasformazione sul posto del gas remoto in vettori energetici
liquidi (gas to liquid), oppure lo sfruttamento degli
sterminati giacimenti di idrati di metano. Chissà che
rilevanza avranno nella prossima enciclopedia? ■
Eni’s Way
allows the monitoring of oil field changes in
real time”.
“Today, the whole process ranging from
exploration to production” – points out Mazzei –
“is integrated and optimised. Through seismic
studies we retrieve information that turns out
to be useful also in the subsequent phases of
production and oil field running. Monitoring
technologies help to adjust models in real time,
as production goes on…”.
New technologies, new frontiers.
“The intensified use of electronics and IT” explains Barnaba,
“has helped develop new techniques for oil field surveying,
drilling and management, that have revolutionized many
phases of oil-related activities and produce results that are
much better than conventional technologies, both in the
phase of exploration and that of development. Take, for
example, horizontal wells or techniques for advanced
recovery, which make it possible to pump from the oil field a
much larger amount of crude oil than forty years ago. In
addition, techniques have been developed that considerably
reduce drilling costs and environmental impact… And, finally,
the “hunger” for energy has driven companies also to frontier
objectives, such as developing deep water oil fields, which
before weren’t even taken into consideration…”
Deep waters and marginal fields. The chapter dedicated to the
evolution of offshore rigs is, perhaps, the most fascinating one
even to those not involved in the sector. In Europe, the first
offshore well was drilled by Eni off Gela, Sicily and began
producing in 1961. For many years, offshore oil operations
were limited to waters that were no deeper than 300-400
metres, where you can install oil platforms fixed to the seabed
and having characteristics similar to onshore rigs. Then
exploration and production extended to big offshore oil fields
over a thousand or two thousand metres under water, where
traditional oilrigs couldn’t be used. So tension leg platforms
were born, floating oilrigs anchored to the sea bed and
connected to the wells by means of risers, flexible tubes…
The effort to maximize hydrocarbon resources led to the
development of systems and technologies aimed at making
economically viable the exploitation of oil fields that, with
Eni’s Way
NUOVE FRONTIERE TECNOLOGICHE. Sicilia, Gela,
particolare del terminale di ricevimento del gas
proveniente dalla Libia attraverso il gasdotto
sottomarino Greenstream. Con una lunghezza
di 520 chilometri attraversa il Mediterraneo
arrivando a profondità marine di 1.127 metri.
È un’opera straordinaria inserita nell’ambito
del Western Lybia Gas Project volto a valorizzare
il gas naturale proveniente da due giacimenti:
uno offshore a Bahr Essalam, l’altro onshore
a Wafa in pieno deserto libico.
NEW TECHNOLOGICAL FRONTIERS. Sicily, Gela, a detail
of the receiving terminal for natural gas flowing in from
Libya through the Greenstream subsea gas pipeline.
This 520-km-long pipeline runs across the
Mediterranean reaching a depth of 1,127 meters. It is a
major achievement included in the Western Lybia Gas
Project aiming at making the most of natural gas
coming from two fields: one offshore at Bahr Essalam
and the other onshore at Wafa in the middle
of the Libyan Desert.
traditional processes, were too expensive. An important role
was played by automation, which operate unmanned
production platforms. But there are also other interesting
solutions. “For example”, Mazzei says, “under the ‘oilrig’ entry,
there is a chapter on the development of marginal fields.
Small fields in traditional waters whose exploitation, when
taken separately, wouldn’t be profitable, but can become so
when they are taken together thanks to adequate technique”.
Natural gas and the tiger. The last section deals with
transport and storage of liquid hydrocarbons and gas. “In the
previous encyclopaedia”, Romano points out, “there was only
one chapter devoted to storage systems, which were then
small and of little importance. In this volume, a large amount
of attention is given to the subject, which is ever more pivotal
for natural gas market strategies”.
The volume highlights the evolution of hydrocarbon transport
and related technical, environmental, safety, regulatory and
international agreement aspects.
The transport of crude oil by sea is an ancient technique,
which in these last few years has undergone a lot of
improvement (for example, the recovery of tank washing water
and the double hull) in order to guarantee more safety and
therefore near-zero environmental impact and a much lower
level of risk. Transport technologies for liquefied gas are more
recent: liquefaction and re-gasification plants and cryogenic
ships have been built, from the very beginning, with
technologies respectful of environment and safety.
Pipeline laying, both on land and in the sea, requires an
assessment of environmental impact to avoid any
“destructive” intervention that might affect the ecological
balance. “If we lay a pipeline across Siberia”, Brighenti
explains, “we must do it very carefully to avoid it cutting the
zone of Siberian tigers in two”. The third volume will be
dedicated to innovation and sustainability in the oil industry,
but sustainability runs through the whole work crosswise.
A major intuition: to make the most of gas. Many subjects of
the new encyclopaedia were not even imaginable in the ’60s.
Like, for example, adding value to natural gas associated with
oil. “Gas was not taken into consideration in exploration
contracts”, recalls Mazzei, “because the focus was on oil.
Discovering a natural gas field was a case of bad luck: the
field was abandoned because gas transportation facilities
were considered too expensive. The gas associated with
crude was flared. Now, instead, we go looking for natural gas
and, in the future of hydrocarbons, natural gas will carry
increasingly more weight”.
“The history of Eni”, Romano comments, “is an anomalous
history when compared with other oil companies. Eni, from
its very beginnings, put value on natural gas, which is the
hydrocarbon of Italy’s subsurface”.
The new edition of the encyclopaedia has prompted a
comparison between the world of hydrocarbons today and that
of forty years ago. And what about the future? There are
some frontier technologies that are at a very early stage
today, such as the on-location transformation of remote
natural gas into liquid energy carrier (gas to liquid), or the
exploitation of unlimited fields of methane hydrates. Who
knows what importance they will have in the next
encyclopaedia? ■
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