The Nation
Sept 10, 1996

Total admits dumping mercury

 Total has discharged around 35 kilogrammes of mercury into the Gulf of
Thailand since it began its natural gas production operations there
three years ago, the company's chief said yesterday.
        Jean-Paul Azalbert, general manager of Total Exploration and
Production Thailand, also acknowledged that Thai fishermen frequent the
area of the platforms to catch fish, some of which may be contaminated
by the discharged mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin.
        Asked whether this presents a danger, Azalbert said, ``It is
difficult for me to comment because we have no idea of the level of
mercury in the fish'.
        Total began an extensive environmental monitoring and fish
survey campaign in July but the results won't be known until later this
month, he said.
        The revelations from France-based Total follow earlier
disclosures from US-based Unocal - another natural gas concessionaire in
the gulf - that it too is releasing mercury into the sea.
        Unocal releases around 90 kilogrammes of mercury into the Gulf
of Thailand every year and, according to surveys, the fish around its
platforms are showing rising levels of mercury. The company is taking
steps to reduce its discharge of the heavy metal.
        Although harmless to fish, mercury can cause damage to the
central nervous system and birth defects in people who ingest too much
of the toxic substance.
        Unocal has pointed out that it has the right to bar fishermen
from casting their nets within 500 metres of the company's platform.
However, fishermen like to frequent the area because of the bountiful
quantities of fish to be found there and company officials privately
acknowledge that it is difficult to enforce this ``economic exclusive
zone'.
        Total's operation is much smaller than Unocal's, which has been
underway for 15 years and includes more than 80 platforms. Total
currently has 12 platforms at its Bongkot field producing an average of
350 million cubic feet of gas per day, but in 1998 it plans to increase
production to 550 million cubic feet per day.
        As with Unocal, Total releases its mercury into the sea through
its discharge of produced water, which along with the gas is pumped up
from deep underground and is naturally contaminated by mercury.
        Azalbert said that Total has set a goal of releasing mercury
concentrations no greater than 100 parts per billion (ppb), but added
that ``very occasionally' it is exceeded. The onshore standard for
mercury discharge in Thailand is 5 ppb, but there is no offshore
standard.
        Azalbert explained that all of Total's produced water is
discharged from its production platform after undergoing an advanced
water treatment system which includes of a water purifying device known
as a rotary hydrocyclone. By the end of next year, he added, Total hopes
to have installed a deep-well injection system to pump all the
contaminated water into an underground reservoir.
        Total has already disposed of 10-20 barrels of
mercury-contaminated sludge and pure, liquid mercury through a process
known as ``entombment': it puts them into steel capsules and buries them
in disused exploratory wells. Azalbert said this was a temporary
solution and the oil firm is looking for a more permanent disposal
process such as refining or vitrifying the sludge.
        Although Total's Bongkot Project Manager Phillipe Persillon
previously claimed he was ``surprised' when the company found mercury in
its production equipment, Azalbert said this was only because Persillon
``was not aware of the full picture'.
        Azalbert said Total had known from the beginning of its project
that there was a mercury problem in the Gulf of Thailand.
        ``We carried out an environmental impact assessment and found
that the sediment at Bongkot had a higher natural mercury level than
further south in the Gulf,' he said. ``In my view, the amount of mercury
generated by the gas industry in the Gulf is smaller than the amount
caused by natural erosion from land and seepage from underground.'
        ``It's very difficult to analyse gas for mercury during
exploration,' he added. ``We do it but get results which are unreliable.
There's no way to know until you start producing at a stable rate.'
        More gas production projects are planned in a Vietnamese zone
and a joint Thai-Malaysian development zone in the Gulf, and Azalbert
said the geological formations are similar, so the gas produced there
may also be contaminated by mercury.
        Asked whether the Yadana and Yetagun fields in Burma's Gulf of
Martaban may have the same problem, Azalbert said, ``your guess is as
good as mine'. Total is the operator of the Yadana project which will
export gas to Thailand via pipeline.
        Total has a 30 per cent stake in the Bongkot field. In mid-July
of 1998, it will hand over production operations to the Petroleum
Authority of Thailand Exploration and Production Co Ltd (PTTEP), which
has a 40 per cent stake. British Gas also has a 20 per cent stake and
Norway's Statoil a 10 per cent stake.
        Azalbert said he doesn't know if the natural gas produced in
Malaysia is also contaminated by mercury, but says he has seen mercury
extraction equipment at production plants in Indonesia.
        Mercury contamination in natural gas is also a common problem in
the North Sea, he said.