Environmental Technology in the Oil Industry

This study examines in detail the life-cycle of petroleum products, the environmental issues arising, and how the industry has responded to these challenges technologically and organizationally. The oil industry produces a range of products without which modern civilization could not exist. However, an increasingly environmentally aware society demands that products are manufactured without undue pollution or hazard to people. The ability and willingness of the industry to comply determines whether society continues to allow it a "license to operate". For each stage of a product life-cycle, the issues and constraints are identified - what they are, who is imposing them and why, their technical and financial implications. The technological solutions which have been found or are being developed are then outlined in a legal and commercial context.