Effects of drilling operations on the marine environment

Abstract

From the Abstract: “Studies by Exxon scientists and others show that offshore drilling operations are not as harmful to the marine environment as some people have either proposed or feared. In the Lousiana offshore and may other areas, rivers contribute so much sediment that any resulting from drilling is negligible. Water samples taken while drilling show a very rapid drop, to a low level, of suspended solids in a short distance downstream from the rig.

Cuttings accumulating on the sea bottom do not create deserts. Studies made using scuba show that mobile organisms are active on the surface of the pile even while drilling is going on; and in a few months’ time these organisms turn it into ‘normal’ bottom.

Analyses have been made of seawater samples downsteam from drilling operations. The common chemicals normally used in drilling—caustic, barite, chrome lignosulfonate, etc.—are present in such small quantiitte that chemical interaction and dilution make their effect negligble.”