In addition to deeper water depths,  complex logistics and hostile  environments, offshore operators face  another challenge - zero or near-zero  discharge of drill solids. With increasing  environmental regulations, operators  have had to rethink the way in which  cuttings contaminated with oil- and  synthetic-base drilling fluids are handled.  Several methods have been developed  to handle these contaminated cuttings,  including skip-and-ship for shore disposal,  slurrification for disposal, and onshore and  offshore thermal desorption.