Exploitation of Natural Resources in Oil and Gas Industry: Common Factors of Use and Conservation of Ecological Systems

Abstract

The lack of a realistic estimate of the natural capital largely determines the economic and ecological problems in different sectors of economy. Economically inefficient use of the natural capital leads to its depletion. Flouting of environmental laws, when developing and applying technologies of exploitation of natural resources, has a detrimental effect on the environment, destroying the ecological systems. Exploitation of natural resources in oil and gas industry and development of highly sophisticated natural-engineering systems cause disruption of the ecological balance in the environment and shift in the balance of the environmental components: matter, energy and information. Stabilization of such systems and restoring their disturbed or lost balance puts the attitude towards the environment as a natural system in the forefront. Resistance of this system is regulated by natural environmental laws. Unbiased evaluation of the state of the natural-engineering system in exploitation of natural resources should be given on the basis of the system analysis. Such analysis presupposes interaction and interdependence of all the components and also internal and external interrelations of natural and technogenic subsystems. The analysis requires an integrated approach to consider the processes of use of raw materials, pollution of the biosphere components with hydrocarbons and other substances, and also risk assessment of their negative impact through biogeochemical cycles. Due to the increase of the share of difficult oil, deterioration of its quality, creation of new centres of exploitation of natural resources, it has become essential to find ecologically and economically substantiated solutions taking into account natural laws.