Oil
andjhe
enmronment

 

Oil
and the
environment
Pollution is many things. It is dirty water and a
littered beach. It is the disappearance of
fish from a stream. It is ear-splitting noise,
noxious fumes, or offensive smells. It is the
destruction of natural species and devastation
of land around us. Pollution is a health
problem, an economics problem, and an
aesthetic problem all rolled into one . Obviously, we must fight it if we are to continue
living on this earth .
This isn't a new fight. The battle against silt in
streams, for example, began 8,000 years ago
in Mesopotamia, where irrigation was
invented. London in 1660 was described by
Restoration diarist John Evelyn as having
"her stately head in clouds of smoke and
sulfur" . A century ago, Montrealers and
Torontonians suffered sore eyes from the dust
that rose from unpaved streets.
In general , pollution is the result of more
people living in larger cities, consuming more
goods and services, and using more energy
to maintain a high standard of living. With
three billion people on earth, man cannot help
but contaminate the environment to some
extent, and regulations to control pollution
are being put into effect.
Imperial Oil's efforts to protect the environment go back many years. Separators to
remove oil from waste waters were built into
lmperial's Dartmouth refinery in 1918. Imperial
technicians were studying water quality at
Sarnia in the 1920s. During the 1960s, the
company spent more than $40 million to

 protect the environment. From 1970 to 1974,
it spent $131 million for that same purpose.
Among the expenditures, more than $13 million was spent on pollution-control facilities at
lmperial 's new Strathcona refinery near
Edmonton. By 1980, the company will have
spent about $200 million during one decade
just on environmental protection.
Imperial realizes that control of wastes is the
most important way to protect the environment. However, the oil industry is also working
on better methods of restoring the environment if an accident does happen.
Imperial Oil and 11 other companies formed
PACE (Petroleum Association for Conservation of the Canadian Environment) to
preserve land, air, and water wherever they
are affected by the oil industry. And for its
employees, Imperial has conducted a crossCanada study course in environmental
biology.
Here is what Imperial is doing about the
problems of water, air, and noise pollution.

Water
Water never wears out. There is just as much
of it - in one form or another - as there was
millions of years ago. The water you used in
your last bath , recycled thousands of times,
may have been the same water Cleopatra
used in hers.
This perpetual supply exis ts because of the
water cycle . Water is taken in and given out
by all plants and animals , carrying wastes
with it. Then, one of two things happens :
1) It evaporates into the atmosphere to form
clouds. The wastes are left on the earth or
enter the atmosphere. The water returns to
earth as fog , rain , sleet , or snow. 2) Or it sinks
into the ground . Sandy soils filter out part of
the wastes. When the water reaches a stream ,
lake, or ocean, it is cleansed by the action of
oxygen, bacteria, sunlight , and dilut ion.
When water becomes overloaded with wastes
fish, plants, and other wildl ife may be killed '
or driven away ; swimming and other recreational activities may become unsafe or unpleasant; the water's taste , color , and smell
may become offensive.
The Canada Water Act of 1970 defines waste
as "any substance that .. . wou ld degrade or
alter ... the quality of waters to an extent
that is detrimental to their use by man or by
animal, fish or plant that is useful to man . .. "
The major sources of water-po ll uting wastes
are cities , industries , and farms .
In cities, sewage is discharged into the water .
Agricu lture pollutes with animal wastes , silt ,
pestic ides , and phosphates and nitrates .
These last two chem icals are used in making
fertilizers , which are capable of poll uting .
3

 Phosphates and nitrates that get washed
away into surface waters or underground
streams may lead to pollution .
Water heated and returned to its source may
cause a rise in t&mperature that will harm
marine life. The waste in this case is heat.
In oil-industry operations, water plays a large
part. Millions of gallons are used daily in
refining. Oil exploration is carried out in
watery environments. Large volumes of oil are
moved in ships; pipelines often cross bodies
of water.
In seismic exploration on land, oilmen use
small charges of dynamite. At sea, dynamite
can kill fish, so gas exploders are used. One
type, developed by Exxon, employs a mixture
of oxygen and propane ignited by a spark in a
rubber sleeve. The resulting " pop" inflates
the sleeve and gives off an echo, but doesn't
harm marine creatures. The burned gases
escape to the surface through a snorkel.
This technique doesn 't work in shallow waters
with thick layers of ooze on the bottom. In
such places, oilmen drill holes in the ocean
floor and set off explosions as they do on land.
This technique poses no more danger to
animal life than dynamiting on land does.
Ocean drilling is done from specially built
ships or giant platforms , and the drilling bit
itself never touches the water. Drilling takes
place within a steel sleeve that runs from the
platform to deep beneath the ocean floor.
When an oil field is discovered , whether on
land or sea , great care is taken to prevent a
sudden , uncontrolled gush. Special devices,
called blowout preventers, shut down the flow
if a11-accidenLoccurs.

To make sure that the oil does not contaminate the environment, wells are lined with
steel pipes. The salty water that sometimes
comes to the surface with crude oil is returned
underground or to some other brine-bearing
formation .
Oil itself can be a pollutant. The amount of oil
that entered the world's oceans in 1973 has
been estimated at six million metric tons. Of
this amount, nearly four million tons originated
from non-marine sources - industrial and
automotive wastes discharged on land. About
two million tons originated from marine activities. Tankers accounted for about two-thirds of
this in the course of normal operations . Spills
and ship casualties, while contributing a
relatively small amount of the total oil to the
oceans, can cause significant local environmental damage and are of major concern to
the marine industry.
Officers and crews of Imperial ships adhere to
established procedures for pollution
avoidance and control. In some ports where
foreign tankers calf, experienced tanker
officers, who are specially trained, ensure that
pollution prevention and control measures
are followed.
The greatest amount of oil discharged from
tankers occurs during the ballasting and tankcleaning operations. When a tanker has
discharged her cargo, she must refill some of
her tanks with seawater for the voyage to the
next port. Without this water, the ship would
float high and be difficult to control. Naturally,
the ballast water mixes with the oil remaining
on the walls of the tanks. If the water is
pumped overboard before a new cargo is
loaded , some of the oil goes with it. This
operation is a necessary one , and a sub-

 committee of the United Nations agrees that
oily water may be discharged into the oceans.
Limits are placed on how much oily ballast
may be discharged , where it may be done,
and the rates of discharge.
To reduce the amount of oil put into the
oceans, a procedure called load-on-top has
been developed. lmperial's tankers follow this
method of skimming off the ballast water and
putting the residue into a separate holding
tank . This oily waste is then discharged into
a shore tank .
No oily ballast water is discharged into the
sea from Imperial ships operating in Canadian
coastal trade . It is returned to land storage
tanks where the oil is separated from the
water. Only the clean water is returned to the
sea. Tankers chartered by Imperial must
adhere to internationally accepted pollutionavoidance procedures . The tankers are
inspected to ensure that good operating
standards are maintained.
International agreements are the best way to
solve the problem of tanker pollution .
Signatory nations submit to regulations
governing equipment and pollution-prevention
procedures for both existing ships and those
to be built. Under such agreements, virtually
no vessel in international trade can operate
unless it conforms to standards.
Oil companies in Canada have formed more
than 130 oil-spill , clean -up cooperativ~s. In
addition , to minimize damage from spills,
Imperial has organized clean-up teams at all
its major operating points .
Where laws do not provide sufficient compensation for damage from tanker accidents,
most petroleum companies and private tanker

owners have entered into voluntary agreements to compensate injured parties. Imperial
is a participant in two such agreements that
provide up to $30 million tor any one spill.
Most Canadian refineries receive their crude
by pipeline . Smaller lines take products
from refineries to major terminals. These
lines are built to strict government and
industry specifications. Extra precautions
are taken where a line crosses a river or
harbor. For instance, the line is nearly always
buried. Sometimes it is encased in concrete
as well, or extra heavy pipe is used. During
operations, pipelines are monitored for any
break. If one occurs , the line can be shut
down quickly with minimum damage to the
environment.
011

Despite the large number of products they
make, oil refineries are not major sources of
water pollution. One reason is that crude oil
and the products made from it are confined
inside pipes and towers during processing.
Another reason is the care taken.
Large amounts of water are used in refining ,
but these amounts are being reduced. At
Imperial refineries, the water is coo led and
reused. At lmperial's Sarnia refinery, for instance, one tower can cool 30,000 gallons a
minute.
Water used in refining is eventually returned
to its source after treatment. Treating plants
are continually being improved to meet or
exceed guidelines set by an industrygovernment task force . The performance of
these plants is tested by exposing sensit ive
f ish, like rainbow trout , to the refinery effluent.
Methods of treatment vary . Oil and solids can
be removed in settl ing bas ins where the
7

 so/ids sink to the bottom and oil is skimmed
from the top for return to the refinery. Other
waste waters, containing phenols, sulfides ,
and ammonia, must be specially treated.
Using one method, the water passes through a
"sour-water stripper " , which uses steam to
remove ammonia and sulfides. The water is
then routed to a biological-oxidation plant
where specially-bred bacteria absorb or " eat "
the phenols and other organic compounds.
In the fall of 1975, at lmperial 's Sarnia refinery ,
improved installations for controlling water
pollution were completed . Included in this
$15-million program was a new, larger biological-ox idation plant for treating refinery
waste water . The first biological-oxidation
plant in Canada was built at lmperial 's Sarnia
refinery during the mid-1950s.

Air
You 'll probably never breathe pure air . Pure
air contains 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen . The other one percent is mostly
carbon dioxide and argon , with traces of
neon , helium , xenon , hydrog en, methane ,
krypton , and water vapor . Strictly spe~kin _g,
air become s polluted whenever anything 1s
added to that mixture .
To scientists , air impurities are gener ally
classified as gases and aer oso ls. Som e of
these gases are :

Nitrogen oxides, for med when any'.hi~g is
burned . A commo n one, nitrogen d1ox1de,
damage vegetat io n and cause s~re eyes w
it reacts with other gases in sunltght .

~8;;

Sulfur oxides, whic h occ ur mainly in the .
burn ing of coal and oil . The commonest ,s

sulfur dioxide , which can cause lung irritat ion .
Carbon monoxide , formed when any carbonbearing material (wood , charcoal , paper , coal ,
oil , gas) doesn 't burn completely .
Hydrocarbons, which are hydrogen and
carbon in chemica l combination . Oil and
natural gas are mixtures of hydrocarbons .
Aldehydes , particularly formaldehyde , which
enter the atmosphere from incinerator smoke ,
factory chimneys , and motor exhausts.
Aerosols are suspensions of fine solid or
liquid particles in the air . They include smoke ,
fumes , dusts , and mists .

The oil industry affects air quality in two major
areas: manufacturing can create dust , smoke ,
and smells; and use of petroleum products
produces smoke and gases. Yet, desp ite the
tall stacks, visitors to a refinery see almost no
smoke. Waste gases are mixed with steam to
burn them completely. Gas flares are almost
always of this smokeless type .
But refineries use large quantities of wate r,
so clouds of steam and vapor are common ,
particularly in cold weather . These contain no
air contaminants.
Oil refiners fight air pollution in several ways .
Sulfur compounds are burned off safely o r
converted into saleabl e sulf ur. Special
collectors catch the cat alyst dust given off
from the flu id catalyti c crac kers. Carbon
monox ide from th e sam e units is bu rned to
generate steam.
Many refi ne ry p rod ucts evapora te easily,
creating the possibili ty of expens ive losses
and pollut io n of the atmosp here . Many
Imperial refineries have a co mbined solutio n
to both problems . large storage tanks holding
9

 volatile products have floating roofs sealed
with inflatable gaskets. Reduced evaporat ion
cuts losses and lessens poll ution.
The products refineries make, including heavy
and domestic fuel oils and automobile
gasoline, are potential sources of air pollution
when they are put to use.
Although the sulfur content of home-heating
fuel is low, cities such as Toronto and
Montreal have established controls on it. In
Toronto, for instance, the sulf ur con tent of
domestic heating oil is .5 perce nt, while in
Montreal, it is .4 percent.
Heavy fuels burned in factories, hosp itals,
large apartment buildings, and offices contain
as much as three percent sulfu r in areas
where air pollution isn't a problem and the
munic1paht1es allow 11.Specific levels have
been set in metropolitan areas tho ugh. In
Toronto and Montreal, for example, the sulfur
content must not exceed 1.5 percent.
Reducing the amount of sulfur in fuel oil is
very expensive. Experiments are under way to
try to solve the problem In other ways at
lower costs. One of these is flue-gas desulfurrzatron, in which chemical treatment
removes the sulfur dioxide before it reaches
the atmosphere. An Imperial Oil affiliate,
Exxon Research and Engineering, has been
carrying out a major research program of
this kind, in con1unction with several electric
power companies in Canada and the United
States.

emissions in an automobile not fitted with
pollution controls. The fuel tank and carburetor evaporation are responsible for 15
percent. The crankcase is responsible for
another 20 percent. And the rest comes from
the exhaust.
Automobile designers have made considerable progress in controlling these emissions .
The car of 1970, properly equipped and maintained, gave off 70 percent less carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons than the 1960
car. But the goal for the middle-to-late 1970s
is an essentially pollution-free automobile.
Since 1975, many cars have been equipped
with catalytic converters that can practically
eliminate unburned hydrocarbons and carbon
monoxide as pollutants . Unfortunately, tetraethyl lead, which is now added to gasoline to
boost octane ratings, considerably reduces
the life of known catalysts. The car manufacturers ' warranties, therefore, require the
use of unleaded fuels.
Plants built at refineries to produce highoctane gasolines without lead can cost up to
$25 million each. Also , more crude oil is
required to make the same amount of fuel.
That' ~ why ~ome of this extra cost shows up in
g~sohne prices as part of the price of clean
air.

When the automobile engine burns gasoline
into energy, It doesn't burn the fuel completely. Hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and
other chemical compounds go into the atmosphere, originating from three sources of
11

 Noise
Acoustic experts, reporting to the International Standards Organization in Geneva,
Switzerland , have said that if noise continues
to rise at the present rate - about one decibel
per year - everyone living in a city could be
deaf by the year 2000. As a pollutant, noise
has received little attention. Yet it is realized
that everyday noise can erode health.
The sound level has been rising around us:
heavy transports, supersonic aircraft, staccato
motorcycles and snow vehicles, motorboats,
loud music, rumbling farm machinery,
pneumatic drills, and all the clatter of contemporary life.
With their humming, whistling, rumbling, and
hissing sounds, refineries are a noisy part of
the oil industry. Although most refineries
were built in relatively unpopulated areas
many years ago, now population has closed in
around them, so it is important that noise be
kept to a minimum.
Refiners do this with mufflers on exhaust
stacks and vents; acoustically lined housing
on pumps, motors, and burners; and, in so~e
locations, sound-deadening walls surrounding
noisy areas. Sometimes one kind of pollution
control can lead to another kind of pollution.
For instance, refinery waste gases are burned
safely and with little pollution in flare stacks
that have steam injected in them. The steam
causes the gases to burn without smoke.
However too much steam in a stack makes
extra noi~e. so the stacks have to be ca_r~fully
monitored, often by closed-circuit television.
· g sound
.
Imperial Oil spent three years re d ucm
levels at its loco refinery in British Columbia.
Included in this project was a 22-ton muffler

that looked like a rocket ship and cost
$180,000.The project has lowered the noise
level at the refinery's property line from 54
decibels (about the loudness of normal
speech) to 46 decibels - a little louder than
the noise level on a quiet residential street.
Projects like this not only cut down on noise
outside the refinery where neighbors could
be bothered, but also inside where men have
to work.
There are other noise hazards in the oil
industry. Some neighbors of car washes, for
example, have reported that the sound of
dryer fans has to be muffled.
As yet, there are few laws regulating noise;
lmperial's practice is to conduct its operations
so as to be satisfactory to the neighborhood
and not injurious to employees' health.

The Arctic
No part of Canada has received more
ecological-research attention from oil companies than the Arctic. In 1970, Imperial led
in the formation of the Arctic Petroleum
Operators Association, a group created to
help solve environmental and operational
problems in the North. The same year,
Imperial cosponsored a study of birdlife in the
Mackenzie Delta to help the Canadian Wildlife
Service establish migratory patterns. This
knowledge will help oil companies to plan
their operations for least disturbance to birds.
Within the company, Imperial has held Arctic
workshops for the instruction of its northern
seismic and drilling workers.
Imperial has been exploring the North since
the early part of this century. It discovered oil
at Norman Wells, N.W.T., 90 miles south of
13

 the Arctic Circle, in 1920.An Imperial refinery
has operated there since 1932.
The northland is made up of two kinds of
country: the tundra - the treeless area - and
the taiga - a Russian word meaning coniferous scrub forest. In either area, but
particularly the tundra, the ground cover is
fragile. It is often a thin covering of moss and
other organic material insulating the frozen
ground. If this insulation is destroyed, the ice
in the soil may melt, causing the ground to
slump, leaving a deep scar of exposed soil
without any cover of growing plants .
Because this ground cover is vital to the
ecology of the Arctic, Imperial uses tracked
and wheeled vehicles only where they will not
destroy the covering. Until vehicles are developed that won't disturb the vegetation,
summer seismic work is restricted to areas
where the tundra is dry and tough. (Experiments are being conducted with tracked
vehicles thai tread more lightly than a person,
in terms of pressure per square inch.)
Even winter operations can damage the
ground cover if bulldozer blades are set too
low when clearing roads and campsites. To
avoid this damage, bulldozers are fitted with
"mushroom shoes" to keep the blades high.
Operators are instructed to use a technique
known as "high blading", which moves and
compacts snow without destroying vegetation
underneath.
lmperial's drilling rigs in the Arctic are supported on wooden piles or on thick grav~l
pads to insulate them. Heat given off d~nng a
drilling operation can thaw the underlying
permafrost even in mid-winter. To prevent
this drillers insert a double-walled conductor
pip; into the upper part of the hole. They

drill through the centre while a refrigerant is
pumped through coils between the two walls
of conductor pipe to keep the permafrost
frozen. Imperial also uses a special lowtemperature drilling mud in the Arctic .
For garbage disposal, some companies bal~
the waste and fly it by helicopter to dumps in
northern communities. Imperial has designed
a portable waste-disposal plant for seismic
and drilling camps. It burns all combustible
camp wastes, and the ashes are buried in deep
holes of small diameter . Imperial employees
are forbidden to leave litter in the wilderness.
Another matter of concern is the effect of
future pipelines on the tundra . Like all oil,
northern oil comes out of the earth and is
transported at temperatures above freezing .
Buried pipelines would need insulation to
keep the permafrost from melting. Imperial
and others tested a 48-inch line near lnuvik to
see how an oil pipeline affects the environment at various temperatures.
An important concern is the effect of pipelines
on animal migration, particularly caribou.
Simulated pipelines have been built on
trestles high enough for animals to walk
under, or inside gravel "berms" that can be
climbed over easily. Movement of caribou
around both kinds is being studied.
Gas pipelines will be buried, since the gas
can be chilled to below the freezing point and
the permafrost will not be affected by the
lines' operations.
Every kind of northern transportation is
getting special attention. Wherever possible,
frozen lakes are used as airstrips. Elsewhere,
airstrips are made by laying gravel on top of
the tundra without breaking the surface

15

 vegetation . Winter roads are built by the
high-blad ing technique .
The challenge of the oil industry, as of any
industry , is to produce the goods people want ,
at a pr ice they can afford , without degrading
the environment. The oil search must continue
as long as Canadians need fuel for home
heating , gasoline for automobiles , and petrochemicals for thousands of other objects of
our daily lives . The search for anti-pollution
measures must go on also. That is why
Imperial maintains a department of environmental protection and has supported many
private researchers in ventures ranging
from a study of the effects of oil on lobster,
to the breeding of microbes that may eat up
oil spills . Imperial sees its job as helping to
meet Canada 's growing need for energy
while maintaining the environmental quality
that Canadians require .

16

 An Imperial Oil Publication
9/75