Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter

logo

  • News
  • Projects
  • Business and Finance
  • Innovation
  • Products and Services
  • Events
  • Online Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Home
  • News
  • Projects
  • Business and Finance
  • Innovation
  • Products and Services
  • Events
  • Online Magazine
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Quotes by TradingView

New research suggests oil and gas rigs could help at-risk corals thrive

22 Aug, 2018
111
Coral colonies growing around North Sea oil and gas installations. Credit: Lundin Britain Ltd


A new study titled ‘Ocean sprawl facilitates dispersal and connectivity of protected species’, published by the Scientific Reports journal, offers a unique perspective that oil and gas rigs, shipwrecks and other structures could potentially be helping at-risk corals thrive.  

The study adopts a network approach to considering the role that oil and gas installations in the ocean play in species conservation and enhancing resilience. The report highlights that individual offshore structures can, for example, help support protected species. Platforms in the Persian Gulf region were used as an example in the report that attract large numbers of the endangered whale shark Rhinocodon typus, which aggregate in the area to feed on the spawn of fish that were attracted by smaller prey around the platform. Protected deep-sea corals such as Lophelia pertusa also colonise the legs of oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic, underpinning the notion that disposal of platforms at sea (the ‘rigs-to-reefs’ concept) could benefit protected corals by increasing population connectivity across a seascape fragmented by demersal fisheries.

The study area was constrained to the greater North Sea region, with remotely operated vehicles capturing underwater video survey data of coral habitats from 11 different oil and gas structures in the North Sea.

According to the University of Edinburgh researchers behind the study, Dr Lea-Anne Henry et al, the study offers the provocative suggestion that ocean infrastructure can have large-scale conservation significance to protected species. Simulations also illustrated how North Sea oil and gas installations have the strong potential to form highly inter-connected regional network of anthropogenic coral ecosystems capable of supplying larvae to natural populations downstream.

Additionally, the researchers said that the long history of exploitation of resources in the North Sea has resulted in a multitude of hard substrata introduced into the wider ecosystem, including not only oil and gas platforms and wells but also wrecks, marine renewable structures, pipelines, piers and shorebreaks. In their discussion, the researchers further highlight how the new results from the present study allow  the oil and gas industry to consider the role that these unnatural ecosystems can have for species resilience and conservation, especially if they have now formed their own inter-connected network of populations and ecosystems.

The report states that it is anticipated that further scientific effort in this domain will continue to identify new ways for marine infrastructure to enhance populations of threatened species, with the researchers stressing that even before the end of infrastructure operational lifetime, more consideration could also be given not only to the cumulative role that adding new offshore structures could have, but also the technical design, specification and arrangement of structures that could further enhance the ecosystem towards a desired state or conservation target.

The full ‘Ocean sprawl facilitates dispersal and connectivity of protected species’ report can be accessed here, and a free summary of the report can be found here

Related Articles

Sasanof-1

Drilling of Sasanof-1 well commences in Australia’s North West Shelf

activities

Natural gas energises Western Australia to another budget surplus

M&A deal activity in the oil and gas industry declined by 41% in Q1 2022

Digitalization in Oil and Gas, Canada

Comments

Leave a comment Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

all news all projects

Latest Posts

  • Latest News
  • Latest Projects
16 Jun

Microfossils provide clues about Australia’s petroleum potential

15 Jun

AEMO makes unprecedented decision to suspend energy market

15 Jun

Wage rises to be felt, but lack of skilled workers a bigger issue

15 Jun

Sanctions weaken oil and gas construction pipeline in Eastern Europe

15 Jun

WA-designed offshore inspection system pushes frontier of robotics

17 Jun

Esso Australia starts technical tender for Bass Strait decommissioning

17 Jun

Study to check feasibility of turning Torrens Island into a hydrogen hub

17 Jun

AXP energy boosts production with low-cost well re-completion in the US

15 Jun

bp to lead and operate WA renewables and green hydrogen energy hub

15 Jun

Partners to develop offshore renewable green hydrogen production

Online Magazine

    Current Cover
  • Login
  • Subscribe

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter or print magazine

Our Titles

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
© Sage Media Group 2022 All Rights Reserved.
×
Authorization
  • Registration
 This feature has been disabled
 This feature has been disabled until further notice, however you may still register
×
Registration
  • Autorization
Register
* All fields required