Appraisal of An Oil Field's Air Quality Using Geomatics Techniques and Field Survey

Abstract

In countries that produce petroleum, waste streams and petroleum hydrocarbons have deteriorated host towns, contaminated the environment, and negatively impacted human health and socioeconomics.  Due to the difficulty of obtaining large volumes of samples and the high cost of laboratory research to evaluate element concentrations, it has been difficult to determine the level of contamination from a limited number of samples, especially at oil sites.  Finding hotspots of contaminated air, developing geospatial risk maps of petroleum industry pollution, and determining which locations need urgent attention because they are most affected by petroleum activities are the goals of the project. Total suspended particulate matter (TSP), PM10, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and hydrocarbon content were measured once a month for six months at 14 locations in the Al-Gharraf oil field.  The threshold values for some components, such PM10 and H2S, were 0.1 mg/m3 and 0.5 ppm, respectively, and were exceeded at many locations, even if the bulk of the concentrations were under the set level. Several strategies and tactics were employed to accomplish the aforementioned goals, one of which was the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) methodology combined with GIS (to create geographical maps of the observed values).The distribution of the several environmental characteristics throughout the oil field was accurately and efficiently mapped using the IDW technique.  Every month, the analysis is conducted and contrasted with the limit value.  For the oil industry, this study has produced a valuable database that should be utilised consistently to track ecosystem health