Oil exploration and exploitation 

Gasoline and other hydrocarbons constitute a highly prized resource. With world reserves predicted to run out, rising prices and international conflicts, it is becoming more and more profitable to explore the ocean floor in search of new reserves.

Yet, oil and gas exploration is not a small affair. Seismic exploration involves bombarding the ocean floor with powerful sound waves. Boats drag airgun arrays that detonate every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day for weeks and sometimes months at a time. These low-frequency, high intensity sounds reveal the geological composition of the ocean floor. They also allow surveyors to target areas with potential petroleum deposits vast enough for development.

These sounds are not limited to the zone between the boat and the ocean floor. They travel hundreds of kilometres, covering tens of thousands of square kilometres. According to Chris Clark, Director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, U.S.A., seismic exploration is the worst form of noise pollution, with the exception of acoustic military exercises.

This type of noise pollution can have serious effects on marine fauna, especially marine mammals that depend entirely on sound for all aspects of their daily lives: communication, hunting, prey detection and navigation. The sounds associated with oil and gas exploration lead to changes in behaviour that may have an impact on the survival and reproductive success of cetaceans. They may even lead to hearing loss, damage or even death. These effects are well documented for cetaceans, however studies have shown similar effects on fish and other marine animals.

Of course, oil and gas exploration opens the door to oil production that carries with it its own set of risks for the marine environment. One has but to think of accidents that can lead to the explosion of a well or a ruptured pipeline. In many cases existing intervention technology is not sufficient to contain and recover spilled oil, with ensuing consequences that are serious, and often dramatic, for the marine environment. Even without major catastrophes there are always leaks. Every year, 110 million litres of oil leak from American oil industry wells, pipelines and other infrastructures. This is three times the amount involved in the Exxon Valdez spill.

Normal operations also present other dangers. Drilling mud is deposited on the ocean floor, and although treated, it still represents a veritable toxic soup of heavy metals and hydrocarbons. Contaminants also find their way into ecosystems surrounding drilling platforms via air pollution. Excess gas is burned off in huge torches for safety reasons producing hydrocarbon emissions. Also, due to the fact that platforms are lit up 24 hours a day, they represent a risk for migratory birds. Finally, even the dismantling of platforms when the wells run dry leads to serious environmental problems. In general, the rules and procedures for this operation are not sufficient to effectively limit environmental risks as the initiative is largely in the hands of the company in charge.

Oil exploration and production engenders problems that become even more evident when they conflict with other uses of the ocean’s resources. Is it socially justifiable to favour an activity that depends on a non-renewable resource when it threatens other well-established activities such as fishing and tourism? The risks are hard to evaluate especially when we try to grasp their long-term, cumulative effects. They often compound other stresses already present in fragile ecosystems. The economies and lifestyles of coastal human populations depend on these very ecosystems.

How, then, are we to envision the future of oil production? Should we not be more careful, especially in the marine environment? Are there areas that are more fragile and more "precious", where this type of activity should be banned? Should we not be moving towards more efficient uses of energy sources and the development of alternative energy that has the potential to fulfil our requirements? These questions outline what is really at stake for our society. They will guide our choices as much on a planetary scale as on a local scale.

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