Drilling Waste Management Market Research Report Information by Waste Type (Waste Lubricants, Contaminated water-based muds, Contaminated oil-based muds, Spent Bulk Chemicals), Application type (Onshore, Offshore), Services– Forecast till 2030

Drilling Waste Management Market Scenario

Drilling Waste Management market is projected to witness 5.64% CAGR during the forecast period.

The drilling waste management market is segmented on the basis of waste type as waste lubricants, contaminated water-based muds, contaminated oil-based muds, spent bulk chemicals, and others. Most of these waste types have possible environmentally harmful constituents such as heavy metals, organics, aromatic hydrocarbons, inorganic salts. These materials have the potential to impact the environment negatively.

On the other hand, the drilling waste management market is segmented on the basis of application as onshore and offshore. In offshore applications, there are limited options for drilling waste management as there are stringent environmental norms and regulations, which force drilling operators to transport the drilling waste to land-based facilities for treatment and disposal. 

However, on the other hand, onshore operators have a wide variety of drilling waste management options available to them, and the selection of disposal method is based on the areas of operation.The drilling waste management market is further segmented by service type, which includes treatment & disposal, solids control and containment & handling services. 

Most of the drilling waste management services are covered by treatment & disposal services, which has the largest market share and includes process such as onsite burial (pits and landfills), land farming, land spreading, bioremediation, thermal treatment, and slurry injection among others.  On the other hand, solid control services are occupying the second largest market share.

Based in Denmark, Soil Recovery has operating agreements in various major oilfield markets, including as the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Angola, and Nigeria. The company develops and leases its unique Soil Recovery Unit ("SRU"), which is used to process drilled cuttings for eventual disposal.

In addition, Soil Recovery manages a drilling cuttings processing plant in Denmark and maintains an installed base of SRUs in Kazakhstan, the UK, and Norway. With 62 employees, Soil Recovery will function under the company's Brandt Environmental Division.

Global Drilling Waste Management Market

North America and Europe regions are expected to be the major markets for the global drilling waste management market. This is majorly because increasing number of oil drilling activities are happening in these regions. Particularly in the North American region, shale gas development drilling activities are increasing with advancement in drilling technologies, such as horizontal drilling and vertical drilling. 

The European region is the second largest growing market with countries such as Russia are investing in Arctic drilling activities. In terms of application, the offshore drilling waste management is expected to command the largest market share with strict regulations governing the deep water and ultra-deepwater drilling activities.

Key Players

Baker Hughes, a GE company (U.S), Halliburton Company (U.S), Schlumberger Limited (France), Weatherford International PLC (U.S), National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (U.S), and Newalta Corporation (Canada). Hebei Gn Solids Control Co. Ltd. (China), Secure Energy Services, Inc. (Canada), Augean PLC.(U.K), Derrick Equipment Company (U.S), Ridgeline Canada, Inc.(Canada), Specialty Drilling Fluids Ltd.(U.S), and Tervita Corporation (Canada) are among others.

Market Segmentation

Oil is among one of the most important natural resources. The production of oil from oil wells generally adds to drilling waste, which incidentally is a major source of pollution. The oil production process generates many types of wastes, which can have severe impacts on the environment and major oil players are continuously looking into ways of disposing these wastes. As the technology evolved, there have been significant developments in drilling waste management technologies. 

Less waste generation technologies such as directional drilling, slim-hole drilling, coil-tubing drilling and pneumatic drilling have been implemented over the last few decades but traditional drilling operations still prevail in many locations. On the other hand, all activities involved in oil & gas supply chain such as oil & gas exploration, production, storage and transportation involve the generation of waste and has potential risk to the environment.

Drilling waste management refers to the waste generated by oil & gas upstream operations such as exploration and production activities, which include operations such as drilling operations, production operations, completion operations, work-over operations, gas plant operations. 

During the drilling process, to remove and bring the drill cuttings to the surface, drilling fluid or mud is pumped down.  The resulting drill fluid will have suspended drill cuttings and also heavy metals, which need to be treated and disposed to reduce the environmental impact.