ABSTRACT
One of the main challenges that are facing the oil industry world market in general and in Egypt in particular, is the generation of drill cuttings as a result from the drilling process of oil exploration and production activities. Drill cuttings are one of the inevitable heterogeneous wastes generated from this drilling process that fall within the EU Commission Decision’s 2001/118/EC (2001) definition of ‘hazardous waste’. The physical characteristics and the chemical composition of the drill cuttings vary significantly according to the type of drilling mud used, local geology, oil well location, oil operator and drilling techniques, recovery technique, exposure/disposal scenarios of the cuttings, weathering and bacterial conditions (Bell et al. 1998). Since the drill cuttings are composed of significant percentages of hydrocarbons, water, heavy metals and water-soluble salts such as chlorides and sulphates, prudent environmental solutions are required to manage the disposal of the generated drill cuttings. Therefore, various environmental laws and legislations have been issued worldwide in order to regulate the quantity and composition of the generated drill cuttings. Furthermore, petroleum companies are faced with a major challenge in managing such drill cuttings.
