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Seep Tents Masters Project

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Bren School of Environmental Science & Management Seep Tents Masters Project External Review Group Members Group Project Manager Erin Mayberry Secretary/Recorder ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Seep Tents Masters Project


1
Seep Tents Masters Project
  • External Review

2
Group Members
  • Group Project ManagerErin Mayberry
  • Secretary/RecorderWendy Stanford
  • TreasurerFarah Shamszadeh
  • Data ManagerAli Ger
  • Client ContactMisty Gonzales

3
Advisors
  • Faculty Advisors
  • Christopher Costello
  • Natalie Mahowald
  • Project Advisor
  • Mel Willis

4
Background
  • Natural gas and oil seep from the ocean floor in
    the Santa Barbara Channel
  • In 1982, ARCO installed 2 concrete and steel
    pyramids to capture the gas
  • These are the only tents in the world
  • The tents are currently operated by Venoco, Inc.

5
Background
  • Gas emitted is mostly methane
  • The seeps are considered a natural source of air
    pollution in the county
  • The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control
    District is exploring additional seep tents as a
    method to reduce methane emissions

6
Problem Statement
  • Is it environmentally advantageous to install
    additional seep tents to capture naturally
    released hydrocarbons?
  • Further, is it economically and legally feasible
    to install additional seep tents?

7
Critical Assumptions study area
Maps courtesy of the UCSB Hydrocarbon Seeps
Project http//seeps.geol.ucsb.edu/
Area studied by the UCSB Hydrocarbon Seeps
Research Group
8
Critical Assumptions study area
  • Water quality impact area
  • Same area as geologic study
  • Air quality and health impact area
  • Santa Barbara County, CA
  • Both will have specific section in final document
    on potential impacts outside of study area

9
Critical Assumptions study area
  • Terrestrial impact area
  • Scenario 1 Assume project will use Venocos
    existing facilities
  • Assessment of impact of increased production
    levels at Venoco
  • Scenario 2 Engineering data from APCD include
    separate processing or co-generation facilities
  • Evaluate impacts in addition to Scenario 1

10
Critical Assumptions geology
  • UCSB Hydrocarbon Seeps Project
  • Reservoir (?)
  • Flux (?)
  • Natural variation (?)
  • Final analysis will include low, medium, and high
    estimates

11
Critical Assumptions seep tents
  • Size, number, materials and structure, placement
  • Scenario 1 Determined by the results of the A.D.
    Little engineering estimate ordered by the APCD
  • Scenario 2 These data are not available. We
    assume that the project will duplicate the 1982
    ARCO project. Design will be updated if possible.

12
Critical Assumptions use of the gas
  • Who will use the captured gas?
  • Scenario 1 Gas will be sold openly on the market
  • Scenario 2 Venoco will contract to sell the gas
    exclusively to UCSB

13
Critical Assumptions use of the gas
  • How will the captured gas be used?
  • Scenario 1 Gas is sold on the market, used for
    either heat or electricity
  • Scenario 2 Gas is sold to UCSB
  • To eliminate the need for an additional
    electricity generation facility, we assume the
    gas will be used for heating only
  • Scenario 3 Gas is sold to UCSB
  • Engineering report includes co-generation
    facility, gas used for heating and electricity

14
Critical Assumptions use of the gas
  • How will the gas be processed?
  • Assume it is not feasible to construct a new
    facility to process the gas
  • Assume the gas will be cleaned using the
    processing facilities available at Venoco, Inc.s
    Ellwood Onshore Facility

15
Critical Assumptions use of the gas
  • Which pipelines will be used?
  • Existing pipelines from ARCO tents will be used
  • New tents will tap into the existing pipelines
  • (?) Can existing pipelines accept the increased
    capacity of the new tents? If not, will
    pipelines need to be built?

16
Critical Assumptions use of the gas
  • How will the gas be transported to the user?
  • Gas will be transported via existing
    infrastructure

17
Critical Assumptions ownership
  • Who legally owns the captured gas?
  • The gas is not fugitive gas
  • Owned by lessee

18
Critical Assumptions planning period
  • When would the tents be implemented?
  • How long would it take to finance, get permits
    for, engineer, build and implement the tents?
  • Plan to get data from engineering study or
    original ARCO seep tents Environmental Impact
    Statement

19
Critical Assumptions planning period
  • What is the useful life of the seep tents?
  • What is the life of the seeps?
  • Data from UCSB Hydrocarbon Seeps research group
  • What is the life of the tents?
  • Data from engineering study or original ARCO EIS

20
Areas of Research
  • Four areas of research
  • Economic feasibility study (Wendy)
  • Legal feasibility study (Farah)
  • Water quality ecologic impact study (Ali)
  • Air quality climate impact study (Misty)

21
Research II economic feasibility
  • Calculate the Net Present Value of future gas
    sales for the next 20 years
  • Discover the processing sequence of the gas
  • Determine at what point gas is sold
  • Discover who has been gaining revenue from gas
    sales
  • Construct time series of past revenues
  • Determine the potential amount of gas captured by
    seep tents
  • Calculate potential future sales revenues of gas
    for the next 20 years
  • Perform Monte Carlo Sensitivity Analysis

22
Research II economic feasibility
  • Technology Costs
  • Determine what the existing infrastructure is
    that supports the collection and processing of
    seep gases
  • Determine whether new tents will tie into
    existing infrastructure or will require
    additional supporting construction
  • Estimate engineering costs of construction of
    seep tents
  • Estimate fixed costs of installation of seep
    tents
  • Discover past maintenance costs of seep tents and
    infrastructure
  • Estimate future costs of maintenance of seep
    tents
  • Estimate future costs of potential new
    infrastructure

23
Research II economic feasibility
  • Legal and Permitting Costs
  • Determine permitting fees
  • Estimate potential fines
  • Determine the value of potential emissions
    reduction credits

24
Research III legal feasibility
  • Objective recommendations for the project to be
    consistent with applicable regulations
  • In the lifetime of the project there will be 4
    phases
  • Phase 1 Construction
  • Phase 2 Operation
  • Phase 3 Maintenance
  • Phase 4 Abandonment

25
Research III legal feasibility
  • Data collection
  • What are the federal, state and local agencies
    that regulate each phase of the project?
  • Source Santa Barbara County Clerks Office
  • For each agency, what are the applicable policies
    and regulations?
  • Source Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe/ Legal
    Research Database

26
Research III legal feasibility
  • Analysis
  • Is each phase of the project consistent with
    these policies and regulations?
  • If inconsistent, what are the policy and
    regulatory constraints on
  • 1. The site
  • 2. The design
  • 3. The operation

27
Research IV marine impacts
  • Goal To develop a qualitative model that will
  • predict the water quality and related marine
    ecology impacts of possible seep tent
    installation
  • Objectives
  • Determine the fate and transport of the seep
    hydrocarbons
  • Determine present state of the seep ecology
  • Gather data about the measured impacts of the
    ARCO tents
  • Use the information above as inputs to predict
    likely impacts of new seep tent installations
    using the selected scenario

28
Research IV marine impacts
  • Ecology and environmental nature of the seeps
  • What are the surface, long shore and subsurface
    currents?
  • How do these currents affect the fate and
    transport of the seep hydrocarbons in the water
    column?
  • How do the hydrocarbons biodegrade?
  • What is the seep ecology?
  • What is the species composition and abundance
  • compared to non-seep sites?

29
Research IV marine impacts
  • Impacts of seep tents on the marine ecology and
    water quality
  • Impacts of the ARCO tents?
  • Most likely ways that the seeps tents alter
    benthic ecology?
  • Links between the benthos and pelagic ecology?
  • What are the likely water quality impacts of
    additional seep tents?
  • Will there be a detectable impact of the tents on
    selected hydrocarbons concentrations?
  • How much will the tents reduce the total seep gas
    emissions into the atmosphere?

30
Research V air quality climate
  • Quantify total volume of VOCs and compare them to
    other natural sources by obtaining information
    from the SBCAPCD and UCSB
  • What types of gas are released?
  • What is the area of the seepage at the surface?
  • What is the flux of gas from the surface?
  • What are other natural sources of VOCs?
  • What is the total quantity of other natural
    sources?

31
Research V air quality climate
  • Review ozone concentrations in the county
  • What are the processes of ozone production?
  • What are typical ozone concentrations in SB
    throughout the seasons?
  • What environmental factors contribute to ozone
    production?

32
Research V air quality climate
  • Determine the overall contribution of methane to
    global greenhouse gases emitted from the seeps
    using data from UCSB Geology Department
  • How much methane is emitted from the surface?
  • What is the global balance for methane?
  • Global Warming Potential
  • IPCC (impact on radiation)

33
Research V air quality climate
  • Compare current ozone levels with estimated new
    levels from reduced geogenic emissions due to
    capture by the seep tents
  • Urban Airshed Model (from EPA)
  • Install model
  • Run model
  • Confirm that model accounts for mobile sources

34
Research V air quality climate
  • Calculate potential impacts of VOC reductions due
    to tenting of geogenic sources
  • How much will VOCs be reduced by tenting?
  • How will this effect ozone production?
  • How will this effect county ozone levels?

35
Research V air quality climate
  • Estimate amount of air toxics released from the
    seeps
  • What is the flux of toluene and benzene?
  • What are the health risks associated with these
    air toxics?
  • What are the relative sources of these toxics in
    the county emissions inventory?
  • Determine ARCO's calculations of emissions from
    the seeps

36
Final Project Report
  • We will deliver a final document detailing our
    findings by April, 2002
  • The report could be used for public review of the
    possible seeps tents development project

37
  • Questions?
  • Thank you for your feedback
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