Oil exploration process steps11/26/2023 Oil rigs or drill ships and their support vessels are mobilised and conduct pre-drilling activities Infrastructure is developed to access sites.Assessment of quantity, quality, sites and ease of extraction of commercially viable oil/gas petroleum reserve.Since 2014 and the repeal of legislation seismic surveys no longer require Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in South African waters.įor more details about seismic surveys and their environmental impacts, click here.Given the increasing unprofitability of oil production elsewhere around the globe and our marine environment potentially becoming the next greatest economic source, pressure for output means intensified marine prospecting.Seismic airgun reconnaissance poses an unacceptable risk of serious harm to marine life at the species and population levels, the full extent of which is often not understood until long after the harm occurs. These waves of energy also damage eggs, larvae and incite fish and other mobile marine species to migrate away from the affected area. Scientists have proven that this noise interrupts the communication, reproduction, navigation and eating habits essential to the survival of marine life, including whales, dolphins, turtles, fish, shellfish and even tiny plankton. Since sound travels more easily under water than through the air, the blasts from a single seismic survey can travel tens of thousands of square kilometres.Multi-beam bathymetric sonar is often used concurrently. The blasting schedule of the towed multiple air-gun arrays, which produce this high intensity (215-250 dB) sound, means blasts every 10 seconds for 24 hours a day, for months at a time over large areas.Air gun arrays may consist of up to 48 individual air guns, fired in concert, to create an optimum initial shock wave followed by minimum reverberation of cavitating bubbles. Air guns are submerged below the water surface, and towed behind a ship.These seismic surveys use extremely loud shock wave emissions able to travel through the entire water column and penetrate 40kms into the seafloor below, detecting where these deposits might be positioned before mining begins. Key tools used in reconnaissance for subsea oil and natural gas deposits.PHASE 1: RECONNAISSANCE (SEISMIC SURVEYS) The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) defines 4 phases of oil & gas development: Here are the various stages that take place for offshore oil and gas development. There is always a risk of irreparable damage to entire ecosystems, industrialization of the coastline and also risk that puts lives and the economy on the line as well. The pursuit of oil and gas has driven exploration and production into geographically and geologically complex and harsh deep-water environments off the coast of South Africa. Severe weather, currents and greater depths pose risks to the functionality of the equipment/rigs, and their distance from land make it harder for additional rescue personnel to promptly reach the areas in emergency situations. However billions of dollars of investment into oil and gas continues with “growth priorities” being deep-water oil extraction, developing alongside fracking and liquefied fossil gas technologies. The world needs a fast-paced transition to a no-carbon energy system, which requires a huge re-engineering of the world’s existing energy system.
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