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OCS Scientific Committee Meeting Summary
Deepwater Environmental Issues
- Technical, Safety and Environmental Issues of Floating Production, Storage and
Offloading Systems (FPSOs). Since 1977, 95 FPSOs have been installed worldwide.
They have been utilized successfully and safely for the development of fields located in
both shallow and deepwater, for harsh weather conditions, environmentally sensitive areas,
and for the production of both oil and gas fields.
The only FPSO that has been utilized in United States waters is the EXXON Santa Ynez unit
that was installed offshore California in 1981 and removed in 1994.
As fields are produced in ultra deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico, there is a growing
interest in the possible use of FPSOs. There is a limited infrastructure of pipelines in
the deepwater leases and the project economics can be improved significantly with the use
of an FPSO.
There is a concern within the offshore industry that the MMS and/or the U.S. Coast Guard
will not approve an FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico, although operators have not yet submitted
a request for approval. This concern may be due to a perception that FPSO’s are more
prone to oil spills than production options that are more commonly utilized in the
deepwater leases of the Gulf of Mexico, such as Tension Leg Platforms or SPARs.
This presentation attempted to dispel the perception that FPSOs are prone to oil spills by
including worldwide statistics that clearly show the near absence of oil spills from
FPSOs. The presentation also addressed remedial actions that can be taken to mitigate the
adverse impact of any oil spills that may occur.
INTEC Engineering, Inc. (INTEC) is a consulting engineering firm that would not derive any
major economic benefits from having an FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, this
presentation was not biased toward a particular piece of hardware that could be provided
by an FPSO contractor.
- Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading Systems: Spill Response Issues: MMS
Perspective. Mr. Bud Danenberger addressed Floating Production, Storage and
Offloading Systems (FPSOs) regulatory issues, including safety, pollution prevention, and
resource conservation considerations.
- Synthetic Drilling Muds. New Technologies in Drilling: the Advent of
Synthetic-Based Muds. Since 1992, the offshore industry in the U.S. has
increasingly turned to synthetic- based muds (SBM) to increase their drilling
efficiencies, handle tough drilling problems, and reduce costs. The SBM’s are
considered to be very important for successful drilling of future, deepwater wells. The
use of SBM’s has been of regulatory concern because of the ambiguities in the
definitions relative to oil based muds. Current efforts are underway to clarify this
language, and for the effluent guidelines to provide specific guidance for use in future
NPDES permits.
In support of these new guidelines and permits, the industry is working cooperatively with
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a broad range of laboratory and
environmental data to answer the key environmental questions. In the North Sea, SBM’s
have been studied for a number of years. They have found that large, multi-well platforms
tend to form large cuttings piles which, due to their included SBM’s, cause an
organic loading that leads to anoxia of the sediments and cuttings pile (a result of
biodegradation of the organics).
Industry and the EPA have conducted a preliminary survey cruise in the Gulf of Mexico to
assess seafloor conditions resulting from SBM discharge. The early results showed much
less severe impacts. A much larger and more comprehensive study will commence in 1999 to
study platforms on both the shelf and slope of the Gulf of Mexico. The results from these
studies will form part of the basis for developing new regulatory guidelines for future
U.S. use.
Dr. Jim Ray gave a brief background history of the SBM usage in the U.S.,
and then a more detailed discussion of the current and near future research programs,
which range from analytical tests for detecting oil contamination in SBM’s, to
sediment toxicity tests, and biodegradation rate evaluation.
- Deepwater Oil Spills. slide presentation
In response to concerns about accidental releases of hydrocarbons from deepwater
production or transportation, Mr. Bob LaBelle reported that MMS and
industry have formed a working group and are cofunding a research effort. The research
will address modeling of deep spills, laboratory investigations of hydrate and emulsion
formation, and field verification of the model.
- Port Facilities and Infrastructure. Dr. Harry Luton reported that with
the intense interest in the oil and gas potential of deepwater areas begins a new era for
the Gulf of Mexico OCS program. The size and complexity of deepwater projects may alter
the OCS program's onshore, socioeconomic effects. This presentation discussed possible
socioeconomic consequences of deepwater and described how the MMS studies program is
addressing them.
- The Environmental Component of the MMS Technical Information Management System:
Design and Implementation. slide presentation
Mr. Jim Bennett stated that the MMS is committed to developing an agency-wide
system for the storage and retrieval of environmental data and information. Over the past
several months, the agency has made significant advances toward establishing a corporate
environmental database through an incremental approach to data capture and conversion. Key
players have been the Environmental Design Team and the Information Management Division
(i.e., TIMS). A status report identifying the overall strategy being used, the various
components of the system, milestones and plans for the future was presented.
- Subcommittee Overviews and Recommendations. Background: The
Physical Oceanography, Biology/Ecology and Socioeconomic Subcommittees met to review the
regional strategic studies plans for fiscal years 1999 and 2000, and evaluate them in the
context of environmental information needs for decisions on ongoing and planned OCS energy
and non-energy mineral activities.
For more information, contact Julie Reynolds.
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