The majority of companies in the oil and gas extraction industry are not keen on using the term ‘environmentally friendly’ when it comes to lubricants such as hydraulic fluids. This is because there aren’t any established technical definitions or standards that specify a criteria to be met in order to be classified as ‘environmentally friendly’. Companies do however agree on the fact that fluids can effect both environment through their biodegradability, bioaccumulation and toxicity.
Strangely, the toxicity of a fluid is measured by how it will effect a rainbow trout. However, with the majority of the water supply of the world coming from oceans, it’s seems more appropriate to measure what a fluids’ effect is on salt water.
How toxic fluid is to a rainbow trout also limits the measurement of effect to how it effects just one species. There are other sensitive sea life that should be considered that are lower on the food chain and will be consumed by animals throughout the food chain.
Castrol responded to the needs of adhering to the ever increasing environmental legislation by producing their Greenfield range which are designed to be environmentally responsible and to help the offshore industry to reduce its impact on the environment.
The products that Castrol devised are now used on a variety of offshore machines such as drilling units, subsea production facilities, specialist support vehicles and supply boats including hydraulic machines. The product range includes hydraulic fluids, greases, lubricants, subsea control fluids.
With such products, the marine environment is at less risk of being polluted. These products were developed using the most stringent of environmental legislation but do not compromise performance whilst keeping ahead of the legislative trends that companies in the marine industry need to consider even for use in sensitive areas such as the Artic.