Green

New environmentally sensitive solutions for deep sea drilling

The Deepwater Horizon platform disaster and subsequent environmental damage that started in 2010 brought the underwater drilling to the forefront. Few years later, the attention is now focused on placing production equipment directly on the seafloor, under 10,000 feet of water. One reason, it is cheaper to place equipment and operations on the bed of the seafloor compared to above water platforms. The other reason is technological advancements in the deep water drilling. The University of Houston is planning to launch a graduate program in subsea engineering, underwater robots that will supervise underwater operations and exploration of other technologies.

Concerns of environmental disasters such as those that caused by the Deepwater horizon has not been eliminated through new technologies. Many thinks technological advancements need to prove the new technology is safe, not just cheap. Since 1961, the Royal Dutch Shell has been placing well pressure-control valves directly on the seabed. But oil and gas brought to the platform with a series of pipes for processing and separated gas through another series of pipes to the shore. Moving these operations to the seabed will avoid environmental risk associated with these operations. But the concerns still remain until proven otherwise.