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Abstract The upstream of oil and gas industry includes several parts. Between them the well construction (especially drilling) is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. The GHG discharge is happening at different stages, primary due to fuel consumption by rig power generators. This manuscript presents the field tests of the reduced impact drilling technologies aiming to lower environmental footprint, covers main steps to be taken, and the impact levels and approaches are delineated. To reduce GHG emission while drilling the existing approaches were categorized and prioritized. That allowed to subdivide the footprint reduction initiative by 5 levels: 1) review conventional design and simplify well path to drill a well in the most efficient way; 2) identify and implement immediate operations improvement steps with minimum financial impact; 3) introduce drilling technologies and test them to quantify emission effect; 4) upgrade rig equipment to minimize power demand; 5) develop and implement the alternative energy sources to reach net zero footprint. Simultaneously with reaching the levels 1 and 2, the drilling technologies of level 3 were identified. The selected technologies were field tested and emission reduction quantified.
Nifantov et al. (Tue,) studied this question.