Oil and gas development in the Orenburg region of the Volga-Ural steppe zone: Qualifying and quantifying disturbance regimes

This paper examines environmental disturbances related to energy development in the Orenburg region through a two-pronged approach. First, it ranks environmental performance per 25 administrative districts based on multidimensional clustering of 10 diagnostic indicators. Second, it examines land-use and land-cover (LULC) patterns in nine western administrative districts by classifying Landsat imagery and quantifying surface disturbance for the year 2001. Spatial analysis and descriptive statistics help identify the most disturbed administrative units. Findings from the diagnostic indicators suggest that older fields in the western units showed the greatest amount of disturbance due to the age of the fields and related infrastructure, lack of maintenance, and the use of older technologies. These fields were also linked to declining production. Operations in the middle zone, which were younger, showed fewer disturbances, while the youngest southern fields showed the least. Findings from the landscape study showed that agricultural activity is a major driver of LULC patterns in the western region, with oil and gas activities serving a much smaller role. Methods and findings can be applied toward making extractive activities more sustainable during the various phases of expansion, new development and reclamation. © 2013 Taylor and Francis

Landscape disturbance caused by non-renewable energy production in a semi-arid region: a case study on the Russian steppe

Exploration and development of oil and gas (O&G) energy resources can create large-scale and permanent landscape effects that are best measured and understood via fieldwork and geospatial technologies. In this article, we examine O&G surface disturbance in the Orenburg steppe region of southwestern Russia for the year 2015. Utilizing field surveys, remote-sensing data and geographic information system (GIS) techniques, we apply a two-pronged approach. First, we map and measure the landscape infrastructure footprint (LIF) to determine the pattern and extent of direct surface disturbance created by O&G facilities and access roads. Second, we conduct a site suitability analysis to identify specific O&G production locations that are most vulnerable to environmental degradation. The approach considers both the particular properties of hydrocarbon production and specific natural features of steppe zones. Suitability patterns represent three indicators: two morphometric parameters (slope and aspect) and one spatial (the remoteness of O&G objects from water bodies). Our findings suggest that O&G production disturbs just over 3% of soil-vegetation cover in our study plot, while more than 13% of O&G objects are located in unsuitable zones based on topographic aspect, and about 11% lie in unsuitable zones regarding distance to water