For instance, recent surveys have highlighted a cornucopia of marine life among the 52 German warships that were scuttled in Scapa Flow off the Orkney islands in northern Scotland at the end of the First World War. All this is confusing for environmental campaigners. Some groups take the approach that big oil has a responsibility to leave behind habitat that is as near to pristine as possible.
But others concede that things are not so simple. Sam Collin, a marine scientist at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, takes a similar view about the potential environmental benefits of leaving rigs behind in the many oilfields off the Scottish coast. Leaving them in place could have a net environmental benefit. The continued presence of abandoned rigs could also provide protection from other threats.
There are precedents for leaving rigs in place to attract marine life. It has reportedly had some success in encouraging marine life. In California, which has 27 offshore platforms mostly dating from the s and s, there is strong opposition from environmentalists to the idea of leaving rigs in place. But some local conservation scientists who have dived to the rigs take a different line. Decommissioned rig platforms, which had been hauled to a Scottish harbor, await transport to scrapyards in January The debate continues.
But there is another issue in the decommissioning of offshore oil infrastructure that is much less discussed: What should happen to the huge piles of contaminated drilling waste piled up on the seabed around many well fields.
This is waste that oil companies and governments seem much more determined to leave in place. Oil platforms routinely use fluids to lubricate their drills.
These fluids are either oil- or water-based and contain metal additives, such as barium sulphate, that increase the density of the fluid and so help prevent well blowouts. But Blue Latitudes says the aim of rigs to reefs is not to reward polluters and boost the oil industry, but to protect valuable marine habitats by offering an alternative to complete platform removal.
If California's platforms are toppled, it would result in the loss of 27 huge marine ecosystems. Some of these rigs are taller than the Eiffel Tower — the Harmony platform in the Santa Barbara Channel, for example, reaches depths of ft m.
The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1. Find out more about how we calculated this figure here. Join one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook , or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. Future Planet. Future Planet Oceans.
The new use for abandoned oil rigs. Share using Email. By Isabelle Gerretsen 27th January As offshore oil and gas platforms come to the end of their working lives, the remarkable ecosystems beneath the waves come into their own.
For some species, offshore rigs are even better nurseries than natural reefs. You might also like: The city that refuses to sink How whales help cool the Earth The world's fastest-growing source of food Reefing a platform is an attractive proposition for oil and gas companies as it is significantly less expensive than total removal and is estimated to save the industry millions of dollars each year. Californians are very opposed to offshore oil and gas and many of them want their coastline and view free of those structures — Kristen Hislop.
Around the BBC. The item was successfuly added to the shopping cart. Could not add item to the shopping cart. Please try again. This item has already been added to the shopping cart and cannot be added again. Go to the checkout Keep browsing. Auk A.
Baldpate Platform. Beryl A. Bouri DP Bream B. Brent A. Brent B. Brent C. Brent D. Bruce D Platform. Bruce Phase II Platform. Bruce PUQ Platform. Bullwinkle Platform. The field was developed in phases by linking a network of subsea wells to the FSPO Petrojarl Foinaven from onwards.
The recoverable reserves at Foinaven were initially estimated at mboe and increased to mboe as of mid The Alba field commenced production in January ten years after its discovery by Chevron. The offshore oil field was developed in two phases with the first phase development involving the installation of the fixed Alba Northern Platform and a floating storage unit in the northern part of the field.
The Alba Southern Platform was installed in the southern portion of the field as part of the second phase of development. Chevron, holding The estimated recoverable oil reserves of the Alba field were million barrels as of Chevron identified three development wells using a 4-D seismic survey in , the drilling of which is expected to continue beyond Don Southwest Daily average oil production of over 12, barrels in made the Don Southwest oil field, located about km northeast of the Shetland Islands in the Northern North Sea, the sixth biggest oil producing field in the UK North Sea.
The oil field currently comprises four injectors and six producing wells tied back to a floating production facility. EnQuest also operates the nearby West Don and Conrie oil fields. Discovered in January and brought on-stream in December , Ninian is one of the oldest fields in the North Sea. The Ninian field is operated using three fixed platforms including the Ninian South and Ninian Central production platforms that also support the operation of nearby Lyell and Columba fields.
Ninian was estimated to contain over one billion barrel of recoverable oil reserves as of
0コメント