Autonomous marine environmental monitoring: Application in decommissioned oil fields

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 668; pp. 835 - 853
• Main Authors: Jones, Daniel O.B., Gates, Andrew R., Huvenne, Veerle A.I., Phillips, Alexander B., Bett, Brian J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 10-06-2019
• Subjects: AUV; Glider; Infrastructure; Marine autonomous systems; Observatories; Oil and gas; Rigs to reefs; Survey; Survey; Observatories; AUV; Marine autonomous systems; Glider; Rigs to reefs; Infrastructure; Oil and gas
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.310

Hundreds of Oil & Gas Industry structures in the marine environment are approaching decommissioning. In most areas decommissioning operations will need to be supported by environmental assessment and monitoring, potentially over the life of any structures left in place. This requirement will have a considerable cost for industry and the public. Here we review approaches for the assessment of the primary operating environments associated with decommissioning — namely structures, pipelines, cuttings piles, the general seabed environment and the water column — and show that already available marine autonomous systems (MAS) offer a wide range of solutions for this major monitoring challenge. Data of direct relevance to decommissioning can be collected using acoustic, visual, and oceanographic sensors deployed on MAS. We suggest that there is considerable potential for both cost savings and a substantial improvement in the temporal and spatial resolution of environmental monitoring. We summarise the trade-offs between MAS and current conventional approaches to marine environmental monitoring. MAS have the potential to successfully carry out much of the monitoring associated with decommissioning and to offer viable alternatives where a direct match for the conventional approach is not possible.
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•Decommissioning will impact the marine environment at a global scale.•Environmental monitoring of decommissioning activities helps mitigate impacts.•Marine autonomous systems could automate much environmental monitoring.•Autonomy provides cost savings and improved spatial and temporal resolution.•Trade-offs exist between efficiency and comparison to conventional approaches.