“As our fields mature, there is a gradual increase
in our environmental footprint with regards
to energy used per unit production and GHG
emissions. Cairn is continuously monitoring this
change and putting together strategies that will
help curb the negative environmental impact of
our operations.”
Ankush Aggarwal
General Manager, HSSEQ & Sustainability/
Member, Sustainability Steering Committee
MANAGING OUR
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
WATER CONSERVATION
AND MANAGEMENT
O
ne of the key management decisions for Cairn has been the manner in
which we handle our water. With a majority of our operations situated in
potable-water scarce regions, effective water sourcing is crucial for the
uninterrupted functioning of our operations. We recognize that in the areas where
we operate in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, we are the largest single consumer
of water and as a result we have the responsibility to safeguard this precious
resource for all other users. As a standard practice, each time we begin production
operations in an area we undertake a detailed area-specific hydro-geology study
to understand the volume of water supply available and the extent to which we
can withdraw from natural sources. Our endeavor is to locate sources of water
that are of no use to the communities and we utilize our considerable expertise in
geological and sub-surface studies to locate such sources. All of our consents to
operate and environmental clearances are dependent on these studies.
Additionally, we monitor the water sources closely every year from our observation
wells and PHED wells in the surrounding area, so that we can know in advance
any adverse changes that could occur due to our current water abstraction
practices. Based on our current studies and estimates, we have abundant sources
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | WATER CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT
of water for our current and future needs. In Rajasthan, we
estimate that our operations will impact less than 0.1% of
the saline aquifer over the lifetime of our operations.
The domestic and industrial water requirements in
Rajasthan and Ravva are met by desalination of the
saline water we abstract. The reject from the desalination
process is either disposed in disposal wells or co-mingled
and injected back into the sub-surface as part of treated
produced water injection.
Cairn sources almost all of the water required for
the exploration, development and production in the
Rajasthan Asset from the deep saline Thumbli aquifer,
which is located in the Barmer district of Rajasthan. The
primary source for water for our Suvali operations is met
from the Gujarat Municipal Board and saline borewell
water is used at our Ravva operations. The Above
Ground Installation’s (AGI’s) and the storage terminals
at Viramgram, Radhanpur and Bhogat consume local
groundwater.
Cumulatively, nearly 98% of all of our water requirements
are met through these saline sources of water. Out
of the remaining 2%, nearly 1.8% is sourced from
local community sources. In FY2015-16, Cairn
India committed to reduce the sourcing of this local
community water to zero over a three year period.
TOTAL WATER WITHDRAWAL3
Source of Water
Unit
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
Ground Water (Saline)
m3
13,766,914
12,113,637
11,301,451
14,037,439
Ground Water (Fresh)
m3
27,338
22,810
81,277
88,252
Water Tankers
m3
256,802
98,610
Included in the number for
Ground Water (Fresh)
Municipal Supply
m3
43,032
37,837
34,307
31,466
Mineral Water (category
added in 2015-16)
m3
4,462
4,478
2,808
Not recorded
Total13
m3
14,098,548
12,277,371
11,419,843
14,157,157
Water Intensity
m3/Ton of
Hydrocarbon
Produced
1.26
1.10
0.995
1.35
1.35
0.99
1.10
1.26
WATER USE
INTENSITY
»
2012-13
3
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
WATER CONSUMED/TON OF
HYDROCARBON PRODUCED (M3/T OF HC)
Numbers for 2013-14 and 2014-15 have been revised due to the inclusion of mineral water consumption.
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As Cairn’s reservoirs age, it has become necessary
to supplement the drop in the production volumes
by seeking out additional hydrocarbon reserves. In
Rajasthan, these additional hydrocarbon reserves have
been located in marginal or satellite fields. Marginal fields
are those fields that yield significantly lower volumes of
hydrocarbons, but remain financially viable to extract
hydrocarbons.
These fields are located in remote areas where there is no
prior infrastructure. Given the remote locations and the
short time-period during which these fields remain viable,
it is prudent to minimize the infrastructure being built,
until long-term projections for each of the reservoirs have
been established. As a result, localized ground water was
used for development and production activities including
– well services, hydraulic fracturing, workover, drilling
operations, and maintenance of greenbelts.
to local community water included treated saline water
abstracted from the Thumbli aquifer, utilization of
harvested storm-water, and treated water from saline
borewells in RGT.
The steps taken during the year have resulted in a
significant redistribution of water sourcing. 100% of all
the water required for completion activities is now being
sourced from treated saline water. 100% of all the water
for the fraccing campaign is now being sourced from the
treated RGT borewells. Nearly 97% of all the water for
our petroleum engineering activities is now being sourced
from internal treated water Cairn sources. Water sourcing
is being tracked daily and an exception has to be created
by the user department in order to purchase water from
the local community.
Mindful of the environmental and social impact that
sourcing water from scarce local sources presents,
the Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) kickstarted a program to minimize the consumption of local
community water. The program has served as an example
of the collaborative approach with several departments
within Cairn, pitching their services towards a common
sustainability goal.
We used a four-step approach to help chart a path to
reduce sourcing of water from the local community:
ΠIdentify activities that are significant users of
freshwater
 Find alternate sources of water for those
activities
Ž Implement infrastructure for transporting
water from alternate sources to the users
 Implement a management program to ensure
that alternate water sources are being used
The focus provided by the SSC has allowed Cairn to
uncover opportunities to utilize untapped water from
our saline aquifer for our well services, completions/
workover, and hydraulic fracturing operations. Alternates
These measures have resulted in significant reduction in
the sourcing of local community water. We are currently
in the process of establishing robust systems to ensure
that we are able to sustain this trend. However, it must
be noted that in FY2015-16, we saw an overall increase
in water being consumed through water tankers. This
increase has primarily occurred due to a rise in water
demand in the beginning of the year, before our water
sourcing management programs were put into force.
Additionally, this increase is also due to the utilization
of local community water at our Bhogat Terminal, which
saw increase in water use as more operations were
brought online during the commissioning of our offshore
hydrocarbon sales operations. Plans are underway to
further reduce our demand from local community water
sources.
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Reducing Sourcing Local
Community Water
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | WATER CONSERVATION & MANAGEMENT
Improving the Recycling and
Reuse Rate of Water within
our System
•
•
•
•
Cairn is committed to monitoring the quantum of water
consumption both for our domestic as well as industrial
usage. We have installed water meters at appropriate
water inlets and usage outlets to effectively monitor water
usage. We also monitor the quality of effluent discharge
to ensure that they are within stipulated limits. However,
it must be noted that there are no planned surface
discharges from any of our on-shore production terminals.
Cairn India recognizes that the best way to conserve
water and minimize water use is to continually improve
our recycling and reuse efforts. The primary uses for
water in our operations are:
As injection water in our well-pads
Process water for our operations
For domestic use at our living quarters and
administrative buildings
For horticulture at our site-grounds and for
green-cover development
Recycle and reuse of water is an important part of
our water management strategy. Nearly 97% of all our
produced water is reused as part of the injection water.
Our water conservation programs implemented in
previous years, such as the drip irrigation network laid
out at RGT and MPT to water our greenbelt, the water
recycled and reused from our STP, boiler blowdown
water at MPT and our rainwater recharge systems have
continued to yield savings in our water consumption.
66.33
PERCENTAGE OF
WATER REUSED/
RECYCLED4
»
57.82
58.05
2013-14
2014-15
35.26
2012-13
2015-16
WATER RECYCLED/REUSED PERCENTAGE (%)
4
Total Water Recycled/Reused = (Total Produced Water Reinjected + Water Recycled/Reused from STP) /(Total Water Withdrawn + Total Produced Water)
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weigh-bridge, stabilization shed and incinerator.
Our approach to waste management follows the
principles of reduce, reuse, recycle, and dispose and
significant steps have been taken in FY2015-16 to
minimize sending our wastes to our secure landfills. Some
of those programs are outline below.
Responsible management of waste is the cornerstone of
any sustainable operation. At Cairn, we generate various
kinds of recyclable (oily sludges, oily filters, waste &
used oil, synthetic oil based drill cuttings, used barrels)
and non-recyclable (drilling mud, incinerator ash, waste
residues, used/contaminated PPEs ) hazardous wastes.
Additionally, un-utilized produced water is a large
component of our liquid waste stream. The safe disposal
of these hazardous wastes is a key concern for our
operations team.
Doubling Down on
Waste Management
Cairn has established standard operating procedures
for the creation of storage facilities and the handling,
transportation and disposal of hazardous and nonhazardous wastes. Wastes are segregated at the source
of generation using different colored bins. Segregated
wastes at the well sites and terminals are stored in a
secured area and later transported to the Waste TSDF
(Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility), which
includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste landfill,
As our activities picked up during the years between
2013-15, we began to generate significant quantities of
drill cutting waste, which needed to be managed in a
timely and environmentally responsible manner. It was
imperative for our environmental and functional teams to
focus on waste management strategies that reduce, recycle
and reuse the waste rather than only relying on landfill
disposal strategies. A combination of methodologies has
been deployed across the organization to manage waste.
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | WASTE MANAGEMENT
REDUCING WASTE PRODUCTION
To reduce the volumes of waste generated we have
initiated several measures and projects, especially in
our Petroleum Engineering (PE) and drilling operations.
These include:
•
Dewatering the Water Based Mud (WBM) drill
cuttings immediately after their separation
from the shale shaker. These measures help in
removing the high moisture content, thereby
providing the opportunity for the online
•
disposal and effective management of the WBM
drill cuttings.
Installing Centrifugal Cutting Dryers (CCD)
in the landfill area to recover the synthetic
base mud from the synthetic oil based mud
drill cuttings and reducing the moisture of the
cuttings. The recovered base oil mud can be
reused for drilling purposes and the final drill
cuttings (after base oil recovery and moisture
removal) are disposed to the hazardous waste
landfill. Around 613 barrels of SOBM was
recovered using this technique.
USING CCDs TO REDUCE SOBM
Our drilling activities generate significant
volumes of waste in the form of drill cuttings
from the use of Synthetic Oil Based Mud
(SOBM). The presence of hazardous drilling
waste is an environmental and operational
challenge for the company. During the
monsoon season, rainwater turns this solid
waste into slurry, thereby converting solid
hazardous waste into liquid hazardous waste,
which is more difficult to manage. In the event
of a heavy monsoon, there is a probability of
a breach of the hazardous landfill area due to
excess rainfall, causing this hazardous waste to
spill into neighboring farms – damaging crops
and harming cattle. To avoid such a scenario,
it becomes imperative that we treat the
hazardous solid waste as quickly as possible
and take measures to reduce the quantum
of waste being sent to the hazardous waste
landfill.
SOBM drilling waste contains traces of
oil, which if separated and removed can
reduce the overall volume of waste handled.
Additionally, this recovered fluid (base oil/
emulsion) can be recycled. Cairn has deployed
Centrifugal Cuttings Dryers (CCDs) to manage
SOBM drill cuttings. These dryers consist of
38
high-speed centrifuges that help maximize the
liquid-solid separation for large volumes.
Cairn’s implementation of CCDs has resulted
in several benefits for the company. The
typical Oil-on-Cuttings (OOC%) for CCDs is
around 15%. However, using rig centrifuges
and Vertical Cutting Dryers (VCDs), we were
able to bring down the OOC% to 7%, thereby
reducing the waste volumes. Furthermore,
we were able to recover the base oil, which
was not just an environmental saving but also
resulted in the savings of an expensive oil that
costs >$200/barrel. Additionally, since we did
not have to transport virgin base oil to our
drilling sites, we were also able to reduce the
overall road safety risk that arose out of this
operation.
Our investigation into increasing the recycling
rates of base oil also had us
re-examine the deployment
of the centrifuge dryers at
each of our drilling rigs. Due
to the near-parallel activity
schedules of our drilling rigs
and the distances between
two drilling sites (especially
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A detailed operational time analysis during the
phases of each development well – rig move,
drilling of water based mud section (top hole),
tripping, casing running operations, cementing
operations, logging, coring - showed that
there was 55–60% idle time when recorded
against total operation time for drilling an
individual well. Additional analysis revealed
that drill cuttings could be stored for a period
of 48 hours without resulting in a drop in
the OOC% upon treatment. This study has
allowed us to setup a centralized processing
location for our drilling
waste, thereby reducing
idle time and maintaining
our OOC recovery rate –
both of which have resulted
in environmental and
economic gains – a textbook sustainability solution.
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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those for exploratory drilling), our philosophy
in the past used to be to deploy one CCD per
well-site.
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | WASTE MANAGEMENT
IMPROVING RECYCLING
AND REUSE OF WASTE
For the last three years, Cairn has spent considerable
efforts in developing strategies to recycle and reuse our
generated waste. We believe that such strategies are not
just good for the environment, but are also economically
prudent – helping save procurement costs for virgin
materials, generating additional revenue streams and/
or reducing the load on our existing waste management
infrastructure.
Used Water Based Mud (WBM) constitutes a majority
of our total waste generation. By reusing WBM when
consecutive wells were being drilled in the same pad,
we were able to reuse nearly 66% of the WBM per well.
Over three wells, this number drops marginally and the
overall reduction in WBM requirement by nearly 45%.
Nearly 9,810 barrels of WBM have been recycled in
FY2015-16. Additionally, we have conducted a pilot for
centrifuging the used WBM, which has allowed us to
reduce its molecular weight from 9.8 to 9.2 making it
suitable for use in top-hole drilling. This has an added
benefit of reducing our need for an equivalent quantity of
water used to make virgin mud.
For WBM that cannot be recycled and reused for
our drilling operations, we have sought permissions
from regulatory authorities to use the waste as subgrade construction material for internal well-pads and
roads. This initiative has allowed us to prevent sending
6,152 MT of WBM to the secured waste landfill. This
represents 44% of all of the WBM that was sent to the
landfill.
Cairn is also testing a major initiative to dispose highcalorie oily residue waste like filters, walnut media, oily
rags and bottom sludge by co-processing it at cement
factories, which can use them in their kilns. This avoids
the incineration of waste. We have obtained statutory
approvals for this process, and if successful, it can solve
a significant waste problem for the company and create a
resource out of waste.
IMPROVING HANDLING
AND DISPOSAL OF WASTE
Given the geographically scattered location of our
work sites and the role of contractor organizations in
our operations, the proper handling and disposal of
40
waste is always a challenging task. Cairn has to remain
ever-vigilant to ensure that all waste handling disposal
and standards are complied with. Our environmental
teams are constantly monitoring how waste is handled
across our worksites and if they encounter instances
of mismanagement (usually associated with incorrect
labeling and segregation of waste), remedial action is
taken.
For our Rajasthan operations, Cairn has an Integrated
TSDF facility at MPT. This facility consists of a secured
hazardous waste secured landfill with leachate collection
system, a secured non-hazardous waste landfill and a dual
chamber high temperature incinerator that is used for the
incineration of high calorific value waste. A network of
seven piezometric wells enables periodic monitoring of
any potential infiltration of leachate. Water samples from
piezometric wells are collected periodically to monitor
for any ground water contamination due to the operation
of TSDF. The landfill is operated in compliance to the
regulatory authorization conditions.
In our Ravva and Suvali facilities, wastes are sent offsite
to authorized third-party waste handlers for recycling/
reuse, incineration or secure landfill disposal.
In FY2015-16, significant work was undertaken to
decrease the volume of liquid and solid hazardous waste
stored at our well-pads. The 2015 monsoon season had
seen severe flooding in southern Rajasthan and raised the
risk of waste pits overflowing should the weather system
move northwards to where our waste pits are situated.
Taking heed from the weather event and in order to
prevent such eventualities in the future, Cairn began the
task of deploying additional technologies, moving wastes
to a central holding facility at MPT, expanding our landfill
and developing a new waste management site.
In order to ensure continuous processing of the liquid
waste in an environmentally responsible manner,
mechanical solar evaporators were deployed to speed up
the evaporation process. Solar evaporators are machines
that convert the liquid into a spray, thereby exposing a
greater surface area to the sun, speeding up the rate of
evaporation. Each evaporator is able to evaporate ~60
KL of liquid waste per day. Over the course of the year,
~313,444 barrels of liquid waste has been evaporated.
Additionally, through better scheduling and logistics
management, we have been able to transport nearly
90% of the hazardous waste from our well-pads to
the centralized hazardous waste landfill in MPT. The
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Finally, in FY2015-16 we began the development of an
additional centralized waste-pit site. This site will contain
two large waste pits and use evaporators to decrease the
volumes of liquid waste. Waste will be transported to this
location using vacuum trucks. The pits will be ready by
the first quarter of FY2016-17.
TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL
OF NON-HAZARDOUS WASTES
Cairn follows the waste management hierarchy of
reuse, recover and recycle. Wastes that are classified as
recyclable are sent to authorized recyclers. Non-recyclable
components of the waste are reviewed for reuse or
recovery. If neither is possible, these wastes are sent to the
secure landfill. Periodic inspection and audits are carried
out of the third party disposal agencies to ensure that
wastes are handled in an environmentally sound manner.
TOTAL WASTE DISPOSED5
Waste Type
Hazardous
Waste
Disposal Method
Sold to government
certified waste
handlers OR
incineration OR sent
to secure landfill
Unit
MT
2015-16
3,167
2014-15
1,984
2013-14
1,779
2012-13
1,584
Our hazardous waste includes: ATF Sludge/Oil, Used/spent oil, Waste oil (tank bottom sludge, spilled or waste
crude, oil containing cargo residue, washing water and sludge, Oily sludge waste, Oily sand, Paint peelings,
Spent chemicals, Membranes/Cartridge filter/bag filter from water plant, Used media of water treatment area /
Spent Activated carbon /Spent ion exchange resin containing toxic metals (Desalination and RO membranes)
/Spent Resin from used Ion Exchange/DM plant/media filters, Oily filters, Oil and grease skimming residues,
Discarded containers/tin cans - from Canteen, Kitchen and living quarters, Discarded chemical containers
- Plant/Discarded containers/barrels/ liners contaminated with hazardous waste/chemicals (Paint drums/
metal drums / tubes /filters)/sample metal containers, after sample removal, empty aerosol cans/empty
rustling cans/empty gas spray cans, Bio- Medical waste (Solid like used vials, soiled waste, sharp waste like
used syringes), Gas sludge, Sludge form treatment of waste water arising out of cleaning/disposal of barrels/
containers, Chemical Sludge from waste water treatment (produced water treatment sludge), Sludge from wet
scrubbers, Ash from incineration of hazardous waste, flue gas cleaning residues, Waste residues deposited in
the refractory/broken refractoriness, E-waste, Batteries, Carbon molecular sieves, Mercury spillage form lab
NonHazardous
Waste
Reused, Recycled –
sold to third-party
waste handlers or
sent to landfill
MT
1,217
1,120
1,044
318
Our non-hazardous waste includes: Plastic, Paper/Corrugated boxes, Rubber, Wood, Glass, Metal scrap,
Garbage, Food waste, Organic waste (horticulture), Demolition/construction waste, Insulation waste (PUF/
Thermacol/Mineral Wool), Cable scrap, STP/bio sludge, Silica gel and alumina, Used spares
TOTAL DRILLING MUD AND DRILL CUTTINGS
Waste Type
Drilling mud + drill cuttings
5
Unit
MT
2015-16
24,591
(WBM: 13,954; SOBM: 10,638)
2014-15
38,536
2013-14
41,677
2012-13
11,256
Restatement: Numbers for 2014-15 and 2013-14 have been revised as there was an error in the unit factors for lube oil, waste oil, and spent oil waste categories
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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reduced quantities of waste at our well-pad locations can
prevent unforeseen instances of waste-pit overflow in the
eventuality of heavy rains.
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | WASTE MANAGEMENT
Liquid Waste Management
•
Our liquid waste stream consists of:
•
•
•
Produced water from processing including
pigging
Rejects from water treatment and boiler
blowdown
Sewage from campsite, terminals and
residential area
Incinerator wet scrubber fluid and landfill
leachate
Our on-shore sites are zero-discharge facilities, however,
we do discharge treated effluent into the sea for our
offshore assets.
EFFLUENT DISCHARGE
Unit
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
Water discharged into sea
m
580,170
688,819
770,585
611,338
BOD
mg/ltr
23.35
23.89
23.8
23.5
COD
mg/ltr
187.84
193.67
183.2
Not reported
TSS
mg/ltr
47.78
38.23
30.4
33.0
3
As our fields mature, it is inevitable that they produce
more water than hydrocarbon. As a result the volumes of
our produced water will increase. At Cairn, we recycle
and reuse most of our produced water. After the wellfluid phase separation it is treated in the produced water
treatment system, followed by filtration and polishing
by passing the treated produced water through a series
of injection filters to remove oil and suspended solids.
Tertiary treatment consists of oxygen stripping. The final
treated injection water is stored in specially designed
treated injection water storage tanks and blended with
treated raw water from Thumbli and injected back into
the reservoir through injector wells to help with our void
replacement. In 2015-16, over 97% of our produced
water was re-injected back into the reservoir. There is no
surface discharge of produced water from any of our onshore producing assets.
REUSE RATE 97%
29.4
PRODUCED
WATER VS
RE-INJECTED
WATER
REUSE RATE 96%
17.01 16.32
million cubic meters
»
28.58
REUSE RATE 97%
17.78 17.26
REUSE RATE 95.5%
8.24
7.87
PRODUCED WATER
RE-INJECTED PRODUCED WATER
2012-13
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Wastewater Type
Treatment Method
Reverse Osmosis & Demineralization (DM) plant reject
Direct disposal to deep dumpwell (depth > 1000 m)
Boiler blow-down
Treated in DM plant for reuse in boiler/direct usage
for irrigation
Produced water
Treated in ETP and reused for re-injection
Pigging wastewater
Natural solar evaporation / treatment in ETP
Sewage
Sewage Treatment Plant; Reed Beds
Leachate from captive hazardous and non-hazardous
landfill and effluent from incinerator wet scrubbers
Solar evaporator ponds
ENERGY USE,
GHG EMISSIONS &
OUR RESPONSE TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
The oil and gas industry has played an important part in
the economic development of the world over the last 100
years. However, the role of greenhouse gas emissions
from the burning of oil and gas in climate change is
undeniable.
Cairn India is committed to ensuring that we play our part
in mitigating our impact on the world’s changing climate.
Benchmarking our GHG
Emissions & Setting Targets
Historically, Cairn has benchmarked its GHG emissions
to the International Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP)
average and we have consistently found our GHG
emissions intensity to be below the global average for oil
& gas producers. However, over the last two years, we
have had to consume higher amounts of energy for every
tonne of hydrocarbon we produce. This has resulted
in our GHG emissions intensity rising at a higher rate,
impacting our ability to achieve our set targets. In
FY2015-16, we had set GHG emissions intensity target
of 125 TCO2e/’000 Tonnes of Hydrocarbons Produced.
Our actual GHG emissions intensity was 146.47
TCO2e/’000 Tonnes of Hydrocarbons Produced.
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WASTE WATER DISPOSAL METHODS
2015 marked a watershed year for global climate change
negotiations. The United Nations sponsored conference,
COP21, held in Paris, signalled for the first time since
the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 that the world
was serious about collectively addressing climate change.
India's role was instrumental in forging an agreement,
and the country has shown leadership in committing to
reduce its GHG emissions intensity by 35% by 2030 and
source 40% of its energy needs from renewable sources.
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | ENERGY & GHG MANAGEMENT
This uptick in our GHG intensity has made us reconsider
our approach to mitigating our GHG emissions. Over the
course of the next year, we plan to establish a long-term
baseline for our GHG emissions that will be used to set
targets that are reflective of our changing operational
scenarios.
Our Energy Consumption
The extraction of oil and gas is an energy intensive
process. For Cairn, the primary fuel that powers our
operations is the associate gas6 that accompanies
our extracted oil. Other fuels that we use to power
our operations are grid electricity, free gas, diesel
and renewable energy. All of this energy usage has a
cumulative impact on our operational carbon footprint.
As our fields mature, the company will experience
rising GHG emissions. This is because as hydrocarbon
reservoirs deplete, they produce higher volumes of
water (a natural phenomenon), which means that in
order to produce the same amount of hydrocarbon, the
company needs to handle larger quantities of fluid –
resulting in higher energy consumption and therefore
GHG emissions. In FY2015-16, our energy consumption
increased by 12.7%. At 1.88 GJ/Tonne of Hydrocarbon
Produced our energy intensity is slightly higher than
the IOGP average of 1.4 GJ/Tonne of Hydrocarbon
Produced. However, in terms of fluid handled our energy
intensity has remained the same as the previous year
at 0.013 GJ/m3 of fluid handled. We believe that this
is a true reflection of our energy efficiency since it is
representative of the total effort required to produce
hydrocarbons.
TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Direct Energy Source
6
Unit
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
% Change
(from last FY)
Fuel Gas
(including flaring + venting)
GJ
19,673,984
17,777,748
16,340,458
14,573,975
+10.67%
Diesel
GJ
524,384
601,625
291,585
202,295
-12.84%
Renewable Sources
(Solar + Wind)
GJ
2,397
507
276
276
+372.71%
Total Direct Energy Consumed GJ
20,200,765
18,379,880
16,632,319
14,776,546
+9.91%
Grid Electricity Purchased
GJ
516,682
197,671
29,749
28,901
+161.38%
Total Energy Consumed
GJ
20,717,447
18,577,551
16,662,068
14,805,447
+10.72%
Energy Intensity
GJ/Tons
of hydrocarbon
produced
1.883
1.671
1.452
1.419
+12.71%
Associate Gas and Free Gas are essentially Natural Gas.
44
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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94.96%
5.04%
ENERGY MIX
2015-16
»
2.49%
GAS ENERGY (Combustion+Flaring+Venting)
DIESEL ENERGY
2.53%
GRID ENERGY
0.01%
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Our energy mix has marginally changed from last year,
with a significant increase in the amount of energy that
is sourced from renewable sources (up by 373% from last
year). However, since renewable energy constitutes only
a tiny portion of our overall energy mix, we have not seen
the overall mix change significantly.
Decreasing our Energy Footprint
initiatives that have seen us nearly double the amount
of renewable energy that we have deployed in our
operations. We have also undertaken several projects that
have helped us reduce the energy requirement of our
operations, resulting in a significantly lower rise in energy
consumption than what would have occurred in the
absence of these initiatives.
To keep our energy consumption and related GHG
emissions in check, Cairn seeks to:
•
•
•
Improve the efficiency of our operations,
thereby decreasing the amount of GHG
emissions that we release into the atmosphere
Increase the amount of power that is generated
from renewable sources of energy
Increase our plantation activities so that
we can create carbon sinks that offset our
greenhouse gas emissions
In the last two years we have undertaken several
In FY2015-16, we significantly increased the use of
renewable energy for our operations. Usage has gone
up by more than 370%. At our remote satellite field
Saraswati S1, 50% of the power requirements for through
renewable sources. The project, which went live on June
2015, helps save approximately 130 KL of diesel per year.
A listing of energy and GHG emissions reduction
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | ENERGY & GHG MANAGEMENT
initiatives undertaken in the last year is given below:
ENERGY & GHG SAVING INITIATIVES, FY2015-16
Energy
Savings
(GJ)
Related
GHG Savings
(TCO2e)
Site
Pre-savings
Scenario
Southern
Fields
(RDG)
Natural gas released
during welltesting or clean-up
activities is flared
Steps taken to achieve zero-flaring
resulted in saving 2 million standard cubic
feet of gas per day over a 15-day period.
37,231
2,110
Satellite
Fields
(Guda)
Lighting through
a diesel powered
energy source
Installation of Solar light in Guda Well pads
6,606
485
Satellite
Fields (NI)
Well pads were
mainly using DG
power leading
to high diesel
consumption and
GHG emissions
Replacement of diesel burner of heater
with dual fuel burner at NE has resulted
in savings of 10,000 liters of diesel
consumption per month. The indirect
water bath heater also utilizes flare gas,
thereby reducing GHG emissions and
energy recovery.
2,202
162
MPT
Waste water
was evaporated
using mechanical
evaporators.
In order to dispose increased quantities
of waste water produced during daily
operations, solar concentrators have been
installed at Mangala Wellpad 18 which are
in operation for 10 hours per day on an
average. This initiative not only helps to
utilize the favorable geographical location
of Rajasthan w.r.t. solar energy, it also uses
an alternate and efficient source to handle
waste water disposal.
1,085
80
MPT
Regular lighting in
e-house
Each Electrical power house has a rooftop
solar panel which generates around 180
KW of power per day. This has been
implemented in 15 Mangala wellpads.
499
114
Satellite
Fields
(Saraswati
S1)
Use to diesel to
generate energy for
well-pad operations.
In order to reduce the diesel consumption
and greenhouse gas effect Installed 100
KW solar PV plant for energy conservation.
380
28
Midstream
(RDG +
VGT)
Lighting through
incandescent
lighting source.
Retrofit of existing 36W CFL with 18 W
LED.
75
17
MPT
Lighting through
incandescent
lighting source.
Retrofit of existing 36W CFL with 18 W
LED reduces power consumption by 5% of
total lighting load.
64
15
RGT
Lighting through
incandescent
lighting source.
In RGT Utility buildings 36W and 18W
conversational fluorescent lamps
were replaced by 18W and 10W LED
respectively.
62
4
46
Savings Description
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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Pre-savings scenario
Savings Description
Energy
Savings
(GJ)
Related
GHG Savings
(TCO2e)
RGT
Lights used to
stay on for 24
hours a day at the
unmanned utility
building
ON/OFF control switch installed at
Rageshwari gas well pads utility building
to minimize the lighting consumption in
case of no operation/ maintenance work.
48
3
RGT
Lights remained
on in unoccupied
rooms
Installed Occupancy Sensors at office
rooms, & conference hall for energy
conservation.
23
1
RGT
Regular lighting at
RGT and associated
well-pads.
Solar Lighting poles are installed in RGT,
associated Gas Well Pads and Marginal oil
field south.
21
2
48,296
3,021
Total
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
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ENERGY & GHG SAVING INITIATIVES, FY2015-16 CONTD...
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | ENERGY & GHG MANAGEMENT
The GHG Impact Of
our Energy Consumption
13.7% and our GHG intensity (TCO2e/’000 T of HC
produced) increased by 12.3%. Part of this increase was
due to the rise in our use of grid electricity, which is more
carbon intensive and the increase in flaring.
In FY2015-16 our absolute GHG emissions rose by
TOTAL GHG EMISSIONS
Unit
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
Total Direct GHG
emissions (Scope 1)
Tonnes CO2e
1,354,089
(1,530,121)
1,242,674
(1,404,222)
1,051,144
(1,187,792)
960,303
(1,055,181)
Total Indirect GHG
emissions (Scope 2)
Tonnes CO2e
117,689
45,025
7,355
7,145
TOTAL
Tonnes CO2e
1,471,778
(1,647,810)
1,287,700
(1,449,247)
1,058,499
(1,195,147)
967,448
(1,062,326)
GHG Emission Intensity
Tonnes CO2e /
‘000 T HC
130.82
(146.47)
115.84
(130.38)
92.25
(104.16)
92.69
(101.78)
(Numbers in parenthesis represent GHG emissions with a 13% correction factor)
GHG
INTENSITY
GHG
NUMBERS
TCO2e/'000 Tonnes of
Hydrocarbon Produced
»
1,647.81
158
161
117.69
1,449.25
1,195.15
1,062.33
146.47
104.16
45.03
2013-14
1,530.12
1,404.22
2012-13
1,055.18
1,187.79
153
7.36
SCOPE 1
48
148
130.38
101.78
7.15
2012-13
OGP AVG
»
'000 Tonnes
of CO2e with 13%
correction factor
CAIRN GHG INTENSITY
2014-15
2015-16
SCOPE 2
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
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5.39%
8%
11.02%
»
66.96%
0.41%
2.62%
ASSOCIATE GAS COMBUSTION
GAS FLARING
FREE GAS COMBUSTION
DIESEL COMBUSTION
COLD VENTING
GRID ELECTRICITY
13% Correction Factor:
Cairn reports its GHG emissions with a correction factor
of 13% to account for areas where GHG emissions have
not been calculated. Few examples included methane
emissions from waste water discharge pits and landfills,
unplanned venting from satellite fields, and fugitive
emissions from flanges, pipes, and tank tops.
In FY2015-16, we changed our GHG intensity
calculation methodology. We now include the
hydrocarbons processed by us for ‘gas lift’ operations
at our Ravva field. In addition, we also account for the
hydrocarbons that we process for ONGC at Ravva.
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
S
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16.63%
GHG
EMISSIONS
SOURCES
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MANAGING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT | ENERGY & GHG MANAGEMENT
Flaring and Venting
Cairn’s production facilities have by design incorporated
technologies and processes to minimize the energy
footprint, including flaring and venting. We are conscious
of the fact that flaring not only causes an increase in
GHG emission but also is waste of an energy source.
However, at times we are constrained by the operational
issues such as disruptions at the gas buyer’s facilities,
lack of gas utilization infrastructure and upsets in
reservoir behavior.
TOTAL FLARING AND VENTING
Unit
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
Volume of Flared
Hydrocarbon
Cubic Meters
105,676,336
82,383,646
38,469,321
62,560,986
Flaring Intensity
Tonnes Flared/’000 T
Hydrocarbon Produced
6.24
4.82
2.18
3.90
Volume of Vented
Hydrocarbon
Cubic Meters
489,326
519,227
1,090,527
3,711,994
Venting Intensity
Tonnes Vented/’000 T
Hydrocarbon Produced
0.03
0.03
0.06
0.23
FLARING
INTENSITY
T Flared/'000 Tonnes of
Hydrocarbon Produced
»
15.1
15.7
13.9
3.9
2012-13
CAIRN INDIA LIMITED CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015-16
6.24
4.82
2.18
2013-14
CAIRN FLARING INTENSITY
50
14.8
2014-15
2015-16
OGP AVG
Cairn is committed
to minimize
flaring related
emissions
»
51