BMT Cordah has been working for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) since 2000 with the design and implementation of their Environmental Management System.
In 2006, SPDC contracted BMT Cordah Limited who are in partnership with African Oilfield Services (AOS) , to prepare a 10-Year Corporate Waste Management Masterplan, 2008 - 2018.
The Masterplan was prepared following numerous site visits to existing waste management infrastructure, review of SPDC’s latest Corporate Business Plan, review of historical data associated with waste volumes and workshop-based discussions with SPDC staff.
Implementation of this Masterplan will permit SPDC to reduce its expenditure upon waste management, generate private sector investment and meet both legal and corporate obligations connected to new government standards and regulation.
SPDC is fully committed to reducing the impact of our activities on the environment. Effective waste management is a part of their commitment to Sustainable Development (SD), of our future business and for the communities within which they operate. It is also an integral component of their Health Safety and Environment (HSE) policy and vision.
BMT Cordah recommended that in the future, SPDC pay for the treatment/disposal of waste using a “pay per tonne” approach, rather than the existing “pay per infrastructure” system with ownership of waste infrastructure facilities, gradually divested to the private sector. The availability and competition between private companies offering waste management services to the Nigerian oil and gas sector, will be intensified within the Niger Delta through the use of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) type contracts which provide a basis for the external private sector to finance, and develop their own infrastructure.
An important part of the project was the creation of a waste forecasting model, taking the existing situation and designing a ‘simple-as-possible’, Excel-based system that could easily be updated with future information by SPDC staff. For the purpose of the forecasting model, Waste Growth Factors were used so that the percentage increase in specific types of waste, could be predicted from increases/decreases in various types of activity (drilling, operations, etc.). An illustration of the Excel model file is provided below:
BMT Cordah also recommended the creation of a Community Environmental Enterprise Development (CEED) fund. The CEED fund shall encourage applications from individual companies who can demonstrate innovative approaches to waste avoidance and facilitate onward recycling services. Such activities place the principals of SD into a commercial context, that has financial benefits for both SPDC and our wider stakeholders.
In order to provide a logical framework for implementation of the Masterplan, BMT Cordah recommended that changes to the existing situation are linked through 4 “pillars” illustrated below:
Alongside details of the measures to be implemented, BMT Cordah provided financial estimates for expenditure within specific time frames in 3 cycles:
Cycle 1: Measures to be implemented from 2008-2010 (1 to 2 years)
Cycle 2: Measures to be implemented from 2010-2014 (2 to 6 years)
Cycle 3: Measures to be implemented from 2014-2018 (6 to 10 years)
The Masterplan prepared by BMT Cordah provides SPDC with a technical and commercial framework to work towards their goal of continuous improvement, alongside enhanced levels of community involvement. The overall result of the CEED fund will be to effectively provide financial assistance to innovate schemes for the recycling and re-use of non-hazardous types of waste generated from SPDC’s operations.