Over the past few decades, the oil and gas industry has taken various measures to minimize the waste generated by drilling operations in order to better protect the environment and public safety. Drilling operators use environment-friendly three-stage waste treatment methods to treat drilling waste: In the first stage, operators adjust the drilling process or use the proper drilling fluid to minimize waste generated during the drilling process. This not only reduces the cost of waste treatment for the operator, but also is more beneficial to environmental protection. In the second stage, the minimized drilling waste is recycled as much as possible. In the third stage, the non-recyclable drilling waste will be treated legally.


 
Foreign drilling waste management follows the “4R” principle of minimizing waste and toxicity, and aims to achieve zero discharge. At present, the drilling waste treatment methods commonly used abroad include backfilling, solidification, downhole reinjection, solid-liquid separation, biological treatment and thermal treatment. Currently, it is difficult for any treatment method to achieve the goal of zero discharge. Only by controlling the use of toxic substances at source can the environmental pollution of drilling waste be fundamentally solved. Presently, domestic drilling waste treatment methods are relatively simple. It is necessary to formulate oil drilling waste discharge standards and increase investment in research and development of drilling waste treatment technologies.