Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/P016561/1
Advanced monitoring of marine infrastructure for decommissioning
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr BJ Bett, NOC (Up to 31.10.2019), Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor DOB Jones, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr C Lo Iacono, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr VAI Huvenne, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr AB Phillips, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Grant held at:
- NOC (Up to 31.10.2019), Science and Technology
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Geophysics
- Earth & environmental
- Offshore Decommissioning
- Oil & Gas Extraction
- Biodiversity monitoring
- Water quality
- Autonomous underwater vehicles
- Survey & Monitoring
- Abstract:
- Many oil and gas fields are reaching the end of their lives. It is estimated that over 50 of the 475 structures that eventually will have to be decommissioned will be decommissioned by 2018. While most structures will be removed entirely, some larger platforms and pipelines currently cannot be removed without causing serious environmental harm. The structures that remain in place are cleaned and made safe and then they are regularly monitored by the oil and gas company that owns them to ensure that they are not causing any adverse impacts on the environment. Currently this monitoring is done using a survey ship, which at tens of thousands of pounds a day, becomes very expensive. This is not conducive to regular monitoring, which in turn increases the risks of any impacts going undetected. This project aims to introduce a new approach for monitoring of decommissioned structures - autonomous submarines. These vehicles are becoming more widely adopted by industry. It has been demonstrated that these vehicles can be launched from shore and carry out complex missions underwater, collecting information on the seabed type and biological environment, while also monitoring pollution. However, so far they have not yet been applied to decommissioning and existing sensors and protocols need to be reconfigured to collect the data that is required for environmental monitoring around decommissioned structures. Working with our project partners, Shell, BP, BEIS, Gardline and SeeByte, this project will address these challenges and develop approaches for collection of appropriate monitoring data to regularly assess the impact of decommissioned structures with autonomous vehicle. The approaches will be integrated within the standard practices of oil companies to ensure that they are realistic and widely adopted for monitoring. The integration of this new information with existing baseline information on the areas will also be considered. This will ultimately reduce the costs associated with monitoring and improve the quality and quantity of data that can be obtained, which will reduce the risk of environmental damage from decommissioned structures.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/P016561/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Innovation
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation - Oil & Gas
This grant award has a total value of £132,244
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £1,323 | £40,429 | £58,849 | £21,893 | £9,750 |
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