The Environmental Impact of Off-Shore Oil Exploration and Production

3819 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Oil drilling and pollution

Introduction

The extraction of oil onshore has been ongoing for several decades. Offshore oil extraction is a process that began decades after onshore exploration had begun. For many years, scientists and the oil companies were certain that the exploration and production of petroleum from deep-water formations would not incur any sort of environmental damages. Several decades later, scientists learned new information from monitoring programs and research studies that offshore drilling did cause effects on the health of benthic organisms and other marine fauna in the proximity of offshore platform rigs.

This paper studies the consequences of offshore platform rigs on marine organisms and wildlife from the perspectives of what causes environmental degradation offshore, the issues pertaining to marine life, and the detriment incurred by oil exploration and production (E & P). This paper begins with a brief explanation of how the oil industry works and how a well is chosen, drilled, and put into production. Subsequently, I present the four major externalities from offshore oil E & P: (1) drilling muds and cuttings, (2) waters, (3) chronic oil spills, and (4) possible socio-economic disturbances. The final section of this research study presents concluding remarks.

Quick overview of oil Exploration and production

Oil companies performing exploration and production services belong in the ‘upstream’ area of the business. Upstream oil companies such as Exxon, Shell, and BP, among others, lease the services from ‘service companies’ to perform the actual drilling of the well. Pride International, Halliburton, Baker and BJ are a few major service companies. Pride International performs drilling worldwide, both onshore and offsho...

... middle of paper ...

...Milligan/Milligan_e.html

National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Report : Offshore oil and gas Available at url http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/oceanreport/oilandgas.html

Southward, J. A. An Ecologists View of the Implications of the Observed Physiological and Biochemical Effects of Petroleum Compounds on Marine Organisms and Ecosystems Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 297, No. 1087. (Jun. 1982) Pages 241-254.

Travers, B. W. and Luney, R. P. Drilling tankers, and oil spills on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Science, New Series, Vol. 194, No. 4267. (Nov. 19, 1976), 791-796.

UNEP IE and The E & P Forum (Oil Industry International Exploration and Production Forum) Joint Publication Environmental Management in oil and gas exploration and production E&P Forum/UNEP IE 1997.

Show More
Related

  • Augustines God Vs. Epictetus God

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    contrast the God of Epictetus, and the God of Augustine, and in the end, my stand will

    Read More

  • How Japanese Culture Is Inluencing America

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book, Japanamerica focuses on how the Japanese popular culture influencing the American culture. The author, Roland Kelts take a neutral prospective in order to create this book, which is done by interviewing many significant individual who took part in establishing the popular culture in both Japan and America. Kelts investigates why the phenomenon of Japanophilia, or the “outsider’s infatuation with Japan’s cultural character” (pg.5), is occurring especially in the United States. Even though Japanophilia phenomenon arose before the twentieth century, it is increasing in number because of the anime, manga, videogames, and other medium of popular culture.

    Read More

  • Education Revolution: Why the No Child Left Behind Act Didn't Work

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    Education is the foundation of American society. It empowers the youth of America to become the successful leaders this country needs for the future. Education has been one of America’s top priorities since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Now, education is controlled by the No Child Left Behind Act, which was launched in January 8, 2002. This act was passed with intentions from the government to provide Americans with a more superior education system. However, The No Child Left Behind Act carried many flaws which were left unseen to a vast majority of the public. This act limited American students by not allowing them to demonstrate their full academic potentials while proceeding in school. While the act was still fairly fresh, there was already evidence to prove that it had already gotten off to a bad beginning. For the crucial math and science courses, statistics showed minimal improvements which had begun around the time period in which the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The act was also supported by a number of educators who voiced themselves by testifying against having the right to teach at their own free will. Teachers across America claimed that because of this new act, they felt a constant heaviness upon their shoulders from the state government to “Teach the test.”

    Read More

  • Athabasca Oil Sands

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Athabasca oil sands are the second largest producer of crude oil in the world, with a surface area of approximately 100 000 square kilometres (Anderson, Giesy & Wiseman, 2010). The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board estimates that the oil sands contains approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of crude bitumen, however only 19% can be ultimately recovered (Raynolds, Severson-Baker & Woynillowicz, 2005; Humphries, 2008). The availability of recoverable bitumen makes Canada’s oil sands deposit larger even than that of Saudi Arabia (Czarnecki, Hamza, Masliyah, Xu & Zhou, 2004).The process of surface and in situ mining of the Athabasca oil sands is causing rapid and significant degradation of the regional environment surrounding Fort McMurray and the Athabasca River. Production is expected to increase to three million barrels per day by 2015 from approximately 2 million currently (Humphries, 2008). This increase will further exacerbate the existing environmental impacts of crude oil production. The Canadian oil and natural gas industry is extremely lucrative, but despite the short-term economic benefits of the mining of the Athabasca oil sands, the remediation of the negative environmental impacts of the extraction of oil on terrestrial and aquatic environments, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions are a priority.

    Read More

  • Epictetus' Philosophy: A Constructive Critique

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Epictetus made many excellent points on how he believes would be the best way for people to live though there were a point or two where I differed from his opinion on how life should be lived. One point of differing would be at passage eleven when he is saying that you should just believe that you are giving something back when it is taken from you. I don’t think this is quite the best way to go about anything since it would, more or less, just be someone saying that their own property or the people around them don’t matter to them in the least. I think that it is far too much an emotionless state to be in to think like this about everything around you.

    Read More

  • Stoicism and Epicureanism

    2002 Words  | 5 Pages

    Epicurus, the founder of Epicureanism, saw death as a total extinction with no afterlife to ensue, he regarded the universe as infinite and eternal and as consisting only of space and atoms; where the soul or mind is constructed of indestructible parts that can never be destroyed. He sought to free humanity from the fear of death and of the gods, which he considered the main cause of unhappiness.

    Read More

  • General Support for Class Size

    3087 Words  | 7 Pages

    “Of course class size is important. You have to find the child before you can teach the child (Archived… 2000).” Though this opinion may seem radical to most people, you can see the underlying theme in the argument. Smaller classes allow students to have more personalized, individual attention from teachers. Many teachers and smaller class size advocates believe that such classes will allow for more constructive group activities, strengthen students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills, and accommodate for a wide range of learning paces. These advocates also believe that a reduced student to teacher ratio will give teachers more time to be innovative and develop new ideas, lead class discussions to further understanding, and give more practice exercises. For parents who want the best education for their children, these proposed effects of small class size make you wonder where the hard evidence is to back them.

    Read More

  • Historic Preservation Districts

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Historic districts have evolved from the preserving a single house at a time, to the preserving of districts and neighborhoods. This practice eventually led up to the comprehensive application of the discipline. Historic Preservation came from a special place, a place that helps us to remember our history.

    Read More

  • Epictetus Philosophy

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ry were true, and if we were to come to a fork in the road, what use would it be to choose the right or the left path if our decision was determined and we had no power of decision. I find these teachings of Epictetus disturbing and hard to believe in. With his point of view, people can never be held responsible for their actions because they are considered appropriate.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Ocean Pollution on the Environment

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    “ Effects of Oil Spills on Marine and Coastal Wildlife” Holly K. Ober. WEB. 19 May 2014

    Read More

  • The Philosophy Of Epictetus

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Epictetus was a philosopher that was born in 50 C.E.and died in 130 C.E., Epictetus was famous for his strong belief in self discipline. Unlike fellow philosopher Epicurus Epictetus does not believe that matter is the most important thing in the universe and that people should try to fulfill their pleasures. Epictetus believes that the most important thing in the universe is God. He believes that people should live their entire lives understanding where they stand in the cosmic universe. As stated in the book Great Traditions In Ethics Epictetus believes “That we are first to learn that there is a god; and that his providence directs the whole” (Denise, White, &

    Read More

  • Oil Spill Response

    5767 Words  | 12 Pages

    Swift, W.H, . C.J. Touhill, W.L. Templeton, and D.P. Roseman. 1969. Oil spillage prevention, control, and restoration—state of the art and research needs. Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

    Read More

  • The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has had an extremely negative effect on the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem. The oil spread across the gulf contaminating any living organism that came into direct or indirect contact with it. The oil cuts off the ability of oxygen from the air to move into the water which directly harms fish and other marine wildlife that require that oxygen. The dispersant that the BP is using to try and break up the oil moves the slick into the entire water column which contaminates the ocean floor which would most likely not have seen any damage if it wasn’t for the use of these dispersants. More than 400 species that live in the Gulf Islands and marshlands are at risk and as of November 2 s...

    Read More

  • Saint Paul's Letter To The Church Of Corinth

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Manual of Epictetus, Arrian described the beliefs of Stoicism. The beliefs of the Stoics are similar to the philosophy of Saint Paul through the elements of behavior, actions and living a virtuous life. The Stoics desired to live without worry and attachments, letting their will be that events happen as they ought, not as they desire, thus sacrificing their will to Nature (Arrian 135). In a similar way, Saint Paul declared people should love rightly, stating that love of God should be considered, and that one should in loving others love God first and foremost. As the Stoics would sacrifice their will to Nature, according to Saint Paul in his writings we should too sacrifice our will to loving others properly and thus live in love and out of

    Read More

  • No Child Left Behind Act

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many important aspects of the “No Child Left Behind” Act. I think the most important area of the act is the parents. Parents play just as an important role to the educational system as anyone else. NCLB expands parental options. NCLB supports learning in the early years, thereby preventing many learning difficulties that may arise later in the student's life. In fact, research shows that most reading problems faced by adolescents and adults are the result of problems that could have been prevented through good instruction in their early childhood years (Snow, Burns and Griffin 1998). NCLB provides more information for parents about their child’s progress. Reading and math assessments are done several times and provide parents with objective data on where their child stands academically. NCLB requires states and school districts to give parents easy-to-read, detailed report cards on schools and districts, telling them which ones are succeeding and why. These report cards are detailed with extensive data. NCLB ensures that parents have important information regarding the schools their children attend and whether they are performing well or not. In addition, under NCLB, such schools that are considered low-performing must use their federal funds to make needed improvements. In the event of a school’s continued poor performance, parents have the option to ensure that their children receive the high-quality education to which they are entitled. This...

    Read More

More about The Environmental Impact of Off-Shore Oil Exploration and Production

Open Document