Deepwater Development Environmental Issues and Challenges

Abstract

TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractAs the development of oil and gas moves into deeper waters, new environmental issues and challenges present themselves to oil companies. The environmental issues arise for several different reasons including: • Technologies used in shallow waters are no longer adequate for water depths over 1000 meters. As a result, the environmental consequences of some of the newer deepwater technologies are not well understood. This requires the standard impact assessments for drilling, subsea production systems and FPSOs (Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading) vessels to be revisited. • The environmental setting in deep water is very different than in shallow water. The deep ocean is poorly understood in terms of physical properties and their importance. Also, hydrocarbon seeps and thermal vents provide habitat for newly discovered or poorly understood benthic organisms. Pelagic organisms, similar to those found in shallow waters, may have adaptive modifications for deeper waters. Therefore, impacts to the environment need to be considered relative to these organisms. • Water depth and distance from the coast present challenges for discharge management and emergency response. The routine discharges associated with oil operations can be different in the deepwater environment in terms of quantities and mixing. Unintended releases, such as oil spills, can provide new challenges for emergency response.This paper provides a summary of the environmental issues and challenges identified during several deepwater projects, as well as issues identified and published by others world-wide.Ongoing research and proposed future research efforts are identified, where available.