I learned something new yesterday on my Labor Day visit to the Downtown Aquarium in Houston. Did you know that oil platforms are home to thousands of underwater creatures?
The protection provided by the platforms attracts a variety of fish and the structures become home to corals, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Over the past 20 years, over 200 platforms that are no longer used have attracted many sea creatures. The conglomeration of sea creatures at these oil platforms has served as a learning center for marine life observation.
Especially in the Gulf of Mexico, the habitat the platforms create for fish is of value to fishermen. Since the GOM is a flat plain, comprised of mud, clay and sand with very little natural rock bottom and reef habitat, the platforms are one of the few places that habitats can form. Without oil platforms, fish and other marine life would be far more dispersed, making commercial fishing and recreational fishing and diving more difficult.
As observed and documented by the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) diving scientists, invertebrates and plants attach to petroleum platforms within weeks of their placement in the marine environment. Within a year, the platform can be completely covered with plants and sessile invertebrates, attracting mobile invertebrates and fish species, and forming a highly complex food chain.
Now, I won't be so naive as to ignore the fact that oil spills do occur. Yes, living under an oil platform can be a risky way of life. But the benefits of community living for these creatures seems to be greater than the risk of an actual spill. And the enjoyment that they bring to humans who can observe communities of marine life is the greatest benefit of all.
–Lindsay Goodier, Online Editor, OilandGasInvestor.com; www.OilandGasInvestor.com; lgoodier@hartenergy.com
Recommended Reading
Exxon Mobil Reports Solid Results, Eyes Permian and Guyana Growth
2023-02-01 - U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. reported earnings of $55.7 billion in 2022 and looks to continue growing production in the Permian and Guyana over the near-term.
Exxon Set to Order 5th Guyana Oil Vessel, Sizing Up More Blocks
2023-01-17 - Since Exxon made Guyana's first offshore discovery in 2015, the South American country has become the world's fastest growing oil region, with estimates its fields could produce 1.64 MMbbl/d by the end of the decade.
Opinion: Fort Worth Barnett, 2023
2023-01-31 - BKV Corp. made the most of its time in the Barnett Shale before filing for IPO in November 2022.
E&P Highlights: Jan. 13, 2023
2023-01-13 - Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, including gas discoveries onshore the Nile Delta in the North Sea and a host of new contract awards from the past week in the upstream oil and gas industry
Ecopetrol Eyes Double-digit Permian Production Growth in 2023
2023-03-03 - Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol looks to report another year of double-digit production in the Permian, where it has joint operations with Occidental Petroleum.