Diesel based drilling fluids had been widely used in the past due to its low price in the market. However, it has been well documented the adverse health and environmental effects of Diesel mostly due to the high aromatic hydrocarbon content which makes it toxic. As an alternative to the use of Diesel, PDVSA-Intevep has addressed efforts toward the development of environmentally safe drilling fluids. In that sense, new oil based mud formulated with mineral oil (< 0.1% aromatics) and palm tree oil (without aromatic), both produced in Venezuela, have been used for drilling operation proposes to overcome the environmental and health risks. The present work evaluated the toxicity and biodegradability of mineral and palm tree oil-base drilling fluids compared to those formulated with Diesel. Standard procedures were performed for both tests. US-EPA protocols were followed for toxicity evaluation and A.S.T.M for biodegradability tests. Biodegradation rate of drilling cuttings impregnated with the three fluids were estimated in soil pans at laboratory scale to determine bioremediation process of the waste. The results indicate that mineral and palm tree oil based fluids are no toxic (LC50 > 30,000 ppm) while Diesel showed high toxicity levels (LC50 19,000 ppm). Under anaerobic conditions, the palm tree oil based fluid was the only biodegraded (>70%). From the soil pan studies, the three types of oil impregnated cuttings showed to be bioremediated; nevertheless, the palm tree cuttings biodegrade in soil compost even without aeration.

In preparation for assuming operations of Block LL-652 in offshore Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, a series of Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) plans were developed to provide the management framework and guidance to ensure that Block LL-652 operations will be protective of people and the environment and to satisfy Operating Services Agreement (OSA) requirements. The LL-652 Consortium, working closely with PDVSA-Intevep, assembled a team of HSE specialists that focused on the strengths of the various organizations. This integrated team was responsible for preparing Integrated Emergency Response (i.e., procedures to respond to oil spills and health & safety emergencies), Waste Management, Safe Practices, and HSE Management Plans. The synergies that developed from the organizations working together resulted in the incorporation of several innovative approaches to HSE planning. For example, emergency response procedures and contingency planning for health & safety emergencies and oil spills were combined into one Integrated Emergency Response Plan (IERP). The use of an IERP avoids unnecessary duplication of effort resulting in significant administrative cost savings and promotes a consistent approach (i.e. Chevron's Incident Command System) for managing all types of emergencies. Oil spill trajectory modeling was used to identify sensitive areas that could potentially be impacted by spills so that contingencies for protecting these sensitive areas could be incorporated into the IERP. A HSE risk management exercise was performed by a cross- functional team of operations, facility, reservoir and HSE specialists to proactively identify, evaluate and prioritize opportunities to reduce environmental and safety risks.