Henry Lea-Anne, Harries Dan, Kingston Paul, Roberts J Murray
School of GeoSciences, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FE, United Kingdom.
Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
Mar Environ Res. 2017 Aug;129:219-228. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2017.05.008. Epub 2017 May 31.
Despite its long history of hydrocarbon exploitation, the United Kingdom lacks scientific protocols to monitor ecological impacts of drill cuttings (mixtures between rocky material excavated from wells and drilling mud). The present study used the UK Benthos industry database to apply standardised variance partitioning and measure the scale and persistence of these effects at 19 sites across the UK sector of the North Sea. Generally, effects were limited to within 1 km from the platform, but two platforms historically drilled with oil-based mud were impacted up to 1.2 km away. Impacts persisted for at least 6-8 years in the northern and central North Sea, but were undetectable in the south where cuttings piles do not accumulate. This study underpins new recommendations to implement regional, phase-based approaches to drill cuttings monitoring, and to apply a precautionary approach in considering decommissioning options that will minimise disturbance to cuttings piles.
尽管英国有着悠久的碳氢化合物开采历史，但却缺乏监测钻屑（从油井挖出的岩石材料与钻井泥浆的混合物）对生态影响的科学方案。本研究利用英国底栖生物行业数据库，应用标准化方差分解法，在北海英国海域的19个地点测量了这些影响的规模和持续性。一般来说，影响仅限于距平台1公里范围内，但历史上使用油基泥浆钻探的两个平台，其影响范围达1.2公里。在北海北部和中部，影响持续了至少6至8年，但在钻屑堆不会堆积的南部则未检测到影响。本研究为实施基于阶段的区域性钻屑监测方法以及在考虑退役方案时采用预防性方法以尽量减少对钻屑堆的干扰提供了新的建议。
