TPT September 2012

Global Marketplace

gas industry relics known as idle iron – rises out of the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. A visitor, Melissa Gaskill, might almost be rendering the scene for readers of the journal Nature : “Below the surface, corals, sea fans and sponges cover its maze of pipes. Schools of jack and snapper, solitary grouper and barracuda circle in its shadows. Dive boats periodically stop at the enormous structure, where dolphins, sea turtles and sharks are often spotted.” In fact, her description of the lush ecosystem that has grown around High Island 389-A appeared in the International Herald Tribune, and Ms Gaskill’s tranquil tone changed quickly. Much of the marine life on or around the structure will likely die with its planned demolition, either from the explosions to separate the platform from its supports or when it is toppled or towed to shore and recycled as scrap metal. To save both platform and ecosystem from this fate, an unusual collection of allies is hoping to convert High Island and many similar structures into protected reefs. (“In Its First Life, an Oil Platform; in Its Next, a Reef?”, 17 June) According to estimates by government scientists cited by the Herald Tribune , a typical four-legged platform becomes the equivalent of two to three acres of habitat. “These structures attract marine life that normally wouldn’t use the area,” said Greg Stuntz, chairman of ocean and fisheries health at the Hartz Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University (Corpus Christi). “Much is growing on them, from corals up to marine mammals.” Somewhat ironically, the removal of High Island 389-A was itself dictated on environmental grounds. The platform, built in 1981, falls within the 56-square-mile Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, one of 14 federally designated underwater areas protected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries – and the only such area in the Gulf. The Interior Department gives owners of a non-producing platform within the preserve one to five years to remove it, depending on the terms of the drilling lease and the location of the structure. High Island’s owner has until January to act. Efforts are under way to save the platform. Earlier this year, W&T Offshore, the oil and gas acquisition and exploration company that owns it, told GP Schmahl, superintendent of the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary, that the company would prefer to convert High Island to an artificial reef. If the plan is approved, the structure would likely be dismantled to 85 feet below the water surface, as required under a federal rigs-to- reefs programme. (At the time that the Herald Tribune article was published, W&T officials had not responded to requests for comment.) Ms Gaskill wrote that sanctuary officials said they were “comfortable” with a partial removal, but were concerned over liability and maintenance issues. In May, the Flower Garden Banks advisory council voted unanimously to request a moratorium on High Island’s removal until at least September 2013. S tay of execution

Oil & Gas The roster of bidders eager to work the Afghan-Tajik Basin suggests rapid development of Afghanistan’s oil and gas sector Seven energy companies have joined Exxon Mobil Corp, of the US, in seeking to bid for the right to explore for oil and gas in the Afghan-Tajik Basin in northern Afghanistan, according to a release issued 4 July by that country’s Ministry of Mines. The other firms identified as having submitted “expressions of interest” are: Dubai-based Dragon Oil Plc; Kuwait Energy Co; India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd; Petra Energia SA, of Brazil; Pakistan Petroleum Ltd; PTT Exploration & Production, of Thailand; and Turkey’s TPAO. Reporting from Houston in the Wall Street Journal , Tom Fowler said a formal expression of interest gives a company access to seismic and well log data in and around the area that is being let out for bidding in northern Afghanistan, near the city of Mazari-Sharif. Bids were to be collected in the fall. The US Geological Survey estimates the reserves in the Afghan-Tajik Basin blocks at up to one billion barrels of oil. “Building on the success of last year’s tender in the Amu Darya Basin, we believe this tender magnifies the progress we are making,” Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said in a statement that referred to a bid offering made last year. The bidding was won by a joint venture between China National Petroleum Corp and a local Afghan partner. The Ministry of Mines said that the company, which began production in Amu Darya on 24 June, is expected to produce at least 150,000 barrels of oil in 2012. Mr Fowler’s report indicates that the authorities in Afghanistan are particular about which energy firms will be invited to work the Afghan-Tajik Basin. Of 20 companies that sought participation in the bidding round, 12 were disqualified. The Ministry of Mines said they lacked the required financial resources or technical expertise, or did not submit their information by the 30 June deadline, or submitted incomplete information. ‘Idle iron’ Something very new in the ecology movement: a vigorous effort to save an abandoned Gulf of Mexico oil platform from demolition Thirty years after it was built and months after it was decommissioned, an oil platform set to be demolished under US Interior Department rules governing non-producing ocean structures has acquired some unusual defenders. The platform, High Island 389-A – one of about 650 such oil and

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September 2012