U.K., Norway revive rigs-to-reefs ideas

David Knott
London
[email protected]

In the calm after the 1995 storm over a plan to dump the Brent spar loading buoy, Europe's oil industry has revived the issue of artificial reefs.

British and Norwegian offshore operators associations, acting through their Offshore Decommissioning Communications Project (ODCP), organized a workshop in Brussels on Sept. 29.

Gordon Picken, director of Cordah Environmental Management Consultants Ltd., Aberdeen, was one contributor to a report presented at the workshop, which reviewed rigs-to-reefs knowledge and proposed new research.

Picken said some environmental groups are wary of rigs-to-reefs proposals, as they see artificial reefs as an excuse for operators to dump unwanted materials in the sea.

"These groups also wonder what any scientific benefits of artificial reefs could be," said Picken. "The purpose of our report and proposed research is to answer the question: Would artificial reefs be useful in the North Sea?"

Inshore experiment

Cordah is applying to U.K. government's Scottish Office for a license to create an experimental inshore reef just off the coast between Brora and Helmsdale in Moray Firth.

Picken said the aim is to place a 50 m, 500 metric ton disused crane on the seabed, and study it for a number of years. Then it would be removed from the seabed for recycling.

"We hope to get the reef in place next summer," said Picken. "If our application is granted we will have to get funding. We'd need to have the reef in place for 2-3 years before we could be confident of the data."

Small inshore reefs are seen as a potential source of income for local commercial fishermen and owners of boats running sport fishing trips.

The report also revealed a proposal to study marine life around an existing platform that is no longer operational but still in the field. A Norwegian contributor suggested using a disused platform in Ekofisk field.

Offshore proposal

"Our plans for an offshore platform study are not so advanced," said Picken, "but for this, we would not need a government license, just the cooperation of the platform operator.

"We would like to collect data on how many fish live around the platform, how they come and go, how plankton moves in the area, and what influence this island of productivity has on the local sea area."

Picken sees offshore artificial reefs in deeper water as a potential haven for small and breeding fish, to be kept out of bounds for fisherman.

Longer term, he envisions taking this idea further, with "cluster reefs" comprising old jackets placed like the points of a star around a decommissioned concrete gravity base structure (GBS).

"Although the GBS would no longer be producing," said Picken, "it could be used as a monitoring station for the cluster reef. You have got to manage artificial reefs."

As with the continuing Brent spar disposal debate, operators hope the workshop will provide feedback on artificial reefs so they can decide how to proceed.

Showing it has learned from Brent Spar, ODCP invited Greenpeace and other environmental bodies to the workshop. That way, non-industry groups can argue the pros and cons of rigs-to-reefs before a decision is made.