Emissions Management and Ambient Air Quality Monitoring in Upstream Oil and Gas Sector - Highlights of KOC's Air Compliance Management Program ACMP as an International Best Practice

Abstract

The Air Compliance Management Program (ACMP) is a unique project undertaken by the Kuwait Oil Company to identify and address the impact of air pollutants originating from upstream exploration and production operations on the environment in general and on human health in particular. It was the first-ever joint venture of its type between the industry (Kuwait Oil Company) and regulators (Kuwait Environment Public Authority) in this region. The objectives of the project was to utilize various advanced technologies to provide an exemplary way of managing emissions from KOC's operations and reducing their impact on human health. The project included establishing an air quality-monitoring network, developing emissions inventories with dispersion modelling techniques to determine human health risk, developing visual based emission information, using hyperspectral remote imagery for surrogate estimation and remote sensing information for tracking pollutant masses during the project. Subsequently, an innovative source apportionment study was undertaken, utilizing satellite based techniques to define pollutant source contributions from various sources and develop abatement strategies. The study utilized emission data from all sources within Kuwait as well as emissions from marine vessels, road traffic and included regional emissions from other countries as well to estimate KOC's contribution to emissions based on monitored air quality data.