Guidelines for the environmental monitoring of oil and gas industry in Italy: Seismic, ground deformation and reservoir pressure measurements

Today, HSE issues, environmental conservation and social acceptance are paramount in all industrial sectors. In particular, the social and environmental impact of E&P industry must be wisely evaluated and monitored. Following this direction, the Italian Oil & Gas Safety Authority (DGS-UNMIG, a Directorate General of the Ministry of Economic Development) issued a new set of monitoring guidelines for future licensing and E&P operations in Italy. After the seismic sequence of May 2012 in Northern Italy, a public discussion pointed out that these earthquakes could have been related to possible "anthropogenic" causes, i.e., a seismic activity induced or triggered by underground fluids withdrawal. For this reason, the Italian Department of Civil Protection appointed an independent international scientific commission to evaluate all available geoscience data to shed light on this hypotesis. In particular, three production fields, located near the epicenters of the seismic sequence, were closely examined: 1) a geothermal field; 2) an underground natural gas storage field; 3) a mature oilfield with reinjection. According to the conclusions of the above International Commission, the National Oil & Gas Safety Authority issued a new document of monitoring guidelines. In particular, future E&P operations in Italy must be complemented by properly designed monitoring networks aimed at controlling the: A) seismic activity; b) ground deformation; c) reservoir pressure. The monitoring networks must be implemented as soon as practicable when licensing is granted, in order to evaluate prior local seismicity and ground deformation with a sufficient accuracy. Moreover, monitored data must be made available to the safety Authorities, and thorough informative actions to residents and stakeholders must be properly carried out. The paper illustrates the above guidelines, the recent agreements signed with the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government and the present monitoring performed at selected Italian pilot test sites, according to the indications contained in the abovementioned guidelines.