Offshore Environmental Monitoring: Evolving Approaches and Technologies to Support the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Abstract:(previously submitted to SPE) The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Offshore Environmental Monitoring Task Force has developed a compendium of guidance and best practices for offshore environmental monitoring. Environmental monitoring has increased and become more sophisticated as concerns around the ecological impacts of offshore drilling and production have grown. Environmental monitoring is now integrated into the full life cycle of an offshore oil field, from early seismic evaluations through production to decommissioning. Traditionally, water column analyses, and physical, chemical and biological analyses of sediments have composed the basic elements of an environmental monitoring program. These analyses have often been coupled with dispersion modeling assessments that estimate the spatial footprint of drilling and production discharges both within the water column and on the sea floor. More recently, new technologies are becoming part of the environmental monitoring toolbox. These include subsea chemical and physical sensors attached to subsea landers, remote observational vehicles equipped with video, sensor and sampling capabilities, whole effluent toxicity testing, and biomarkers in organisms caught or caged within the oilfield. This new OGP guidance will enable an operator to define the scope of monitoring appropriate for their operation and stage of development, select from a range of monitoring technologies, and take steps to ensure high quality data is obtained. Extended Abstract: The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Offshore Environmental Monitoring Task Force has developed a compendium of guidance and best practices for offshore environmental monitoring. Environmental monitoring can be driven by regulatory requirements or to meet internal environmental stewardship expectations. The compendium provides guidance to offshore operators on when and how to conduct an environmental monitoring programme. To scope out potential environmental data needs for a monitoring programme, OGP developed the e-SHRIMP1 toolbox to assist offshore operators in the assessment and management of impacts in all project activities throughout the full field development lifecycle. Different project phases can be mapped to the e-SHRIMP1 framework (OGP, 2007).