The “Disappearing Road Competition” Department of Petroleum Engineering Crisman Institute, GPRI Department of Civil Engineering Texas Transportation Institute Texas A&M University Houston Area Research Center Halliburton, Year Sponsor

Objectives of EFD/DR Program (1) To incorporate current and emerging technologies into a clean E&P system with no or very limited environmental impact (2) To demonstrate a viable system used for the exploration and exploitation of oil & natural gas primarily in the lower 48 states (DOE), (3) To create a team with skills to minimize impact of oil and gas activity in the lower 48 states, much of which is now being directed on lands officially designated as ‘sensitive’ and/ or ‘protected’. The Scope

DR Contest: Environmental Guidelines; (Desert Ecosystems) Air Quality Soil Resources Water Resources Vegetation Page Descriptions Fish and Wildlife Page Descriptions Threatened and Endangered Species and their Habitats Cultural Resources Visitor Use and Experience including Visual Quality, including the Night Sky Natural Quiet

West Texas and U.S. Desert Ecosystem Problem: How to produce 10 tcf gas with minimal environmental impact? Site for Disappearing Road Contest

Example: Can we reduce this footprint even more?

Disappearing Roads; Time Schedule Submission of Phase I DocumentsNovember, 2008 Notification to Teams About Outcomes of Phase I Evaluation December, 2008 Submission of Phase II DocumentsMarch, 2009 Notification to Teams About Outcomes of Phase II Evaluation Invitation of the Top Five Winners to Participate in Phase III May, 2009 Presentations by the Top Five Winners to the Panel Judges June, 2009 Awards BanquetJune, 2009

Field Site Testing of Low Impact Oil Field Access Roads: Reducing the Footprint in Desert Ecosystems The project consists of a creating sections of minimal impact O&G lease roads and to test their effectiveness in reducing the environmental footprint of field development in sensitive desert ecosystems. The goal of our program is to reduce the environmental impact of mature field O&G operations and reduce the costs and regulatory delays associated with additional resource development.

The Desert O&G Operations Test Center The test site will be located at the Texas A&M University Desert Test Center on the edge of the Chihuahua desert. The experimental test sections at the site will be instrumented for remote measurement, with the goal of finding the material with the ability to withstand both normal and heavy truck traffic over intermittent periods through a complete calendar year. One type of low impact road (a “disappearing road”) will be incorporated into the test site as part of a nationwide engineering scholastic competition

Aerial View of Pecos Site West Texas Test Facility, to be operated by A&M. The 6000 acre facility provides an ideal location to test deployment of the Anadarko platform in desert environments and to configure it and other systems for low impact drilling. The West Texas Test Site is less than 100 miles to Lea County New Mexico and oil and gas resources there.

Otero Mesa Landscape Example: Limiting Access to Federal Lands in New Mexico

Reuse of Waste Materials Companies are investigating and implementing ways to recycle drilling waste materials. Processed drill cuttings and other drilling by-products have been used successfully for road construction in a few areas, and as drilling waste processing technologies grow more sophisticated, the options should increase. Mechanical and chemical treatments to remove or neutralize potentially harmful components in these waste materials are increasingly effective.

Scott Environmental Services, Inc. Firmus SM Process –Process that involves stabilizing drill mud/cuttings so that the contaminants are chemically fixed to specific closure criteria. –The Firmus SM process also provides load- bearing structures, i.e. drilling pads and lease roads.

Newpark Mats & Integrated Services Parent company - Newpark Resources, traded on NYSE as NR Consolidated 5 business units in 2007 –May recall SOLOCO, Composite Mat Solutions (CMS) Largest mat company in US Manufactured DURA-BASE® since 1997 Over 100,000 mats sold worldwide Manage a sizable rental fleet in our own Oil Field Services Business Attending today for Newpark –James McDowell, PhD – Engineering –Keith Pearson – Sales

DURA-BASE® COMPOSITE MAT SYSTEM

Recycling of Oil & Gas Waste Inland Environmental & Remediation

Recycling Process

Roadbase Installation

5,800-acre research and testing facility in Pecos, located about 90 miles west of Midland-Odessa

SCOPE OF WORK: The EFD team will provide three key services (1) Creating a working partnership among industry, government, and academic teams to identify cost effective technology for O&G operations in desert-lke ecosystems. (2) Forming an industry desert test center where new technology can be evaluated under controlled conditions in a field environment that does not impact sensitive ecosystems. (3) Performing a controlled test program to evaluate specific new technology for reducing the footprint of oil field access roads in a desert-like environment.

TASKS TO BE PERFORMED Task 1 -Develop a Project Management Plan and report. Task 2 - Perform a Technology Status Assessment and submit a summary report Task 3 – Technology Transfer. Tours of the A&M Desert Test Center Task 4 – Planning Field Demonstration Task 5 Mobilize Equipment to Test Site and Construct Test Tracks Task 6 Operations: Performance, Monitoring and Demonstrations

Task 7 – Analyze Performance of Low-Impact Systems. Task 8 – Update Economic Analysis and Finalize Project Field Testing Task 9 – Final Report. TASKS TO BE PERFORMED

References Bennett, S. L. “Dust: invisible, dangerous, avoidable.” Erosion Control Magazine, March 2000.: Elcock, Deborah. Environmental Policy and Regulatory Constraints to Natural Gas Production. Environmental Assessment Division, Argonne National Laboratory: Forman, R. T. T., D. Sperling, J. A. Bissonette, A. P. Clevenger, C. D. Cutshall, V. H. Dale, L. Fahrig, R. France, C. R. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. A. Jones, F. J. Swanson, T. Turrentine, and T. C. Winter. Road Ecology: Science and Solutions. Island Press: Washington, D. C.: Gilmer, Robert W. Crossroads—Economic Trends in the Desert Southwest. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch. Issue 1, Ministry of Transportation, Public Works, and Water Management. “Towards Sustainable Verge Management in the Netherlands.” Ministerie van Verkaar en Waterstaat, Delft, Netherlands Estakhri, C. (Project Summary Report S. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. November 2004.