By Matthew Donatoni

Drilling for oil in the ocean is one of the greatest technological breakthroughs in recent decades, and many new techniques have been developed to profit from the abundance of oil underneath the ocean floor. While drilling for oil has been around for hundreds of years in one form or the another, the effective extraction of petroleum from beneath the sea floor did not surface until the last forty years. The search for oil often turns out to be unproductive, but this practice is vital for the economic future of many nations.

In order for any drilling to take place, an offshore drilling rig must first be installed. These offshore platforms can be situated in water up to a several hundred meters in depth. But before any drilling takes place, an oil and gas "trap" must first be located in the ocean, and with the ocean floor being at such great depths, the visibility is often very poor. To locate potential traps, engineers use seismic surveying, and then analyze the data they receive to decide whether or not drilling in the area would have the chance of containing oil and/or gas. The engineers will not know whether their assumptions are true until they penetrate the trap with a drill bit. Due to the fact that the traps can sometimes be a great distance below the ocean, advanced computer technology is required to guide the drill bit to a fixed location. Installed above the drill bit is a navigation device, which sends back information to the controller, allowing them to locate the exact location that is presumed to have the oil and to measure and monitor the trap. Inside the drill pipe, there is a steerable motor that can be controlled to adjust the drill and the direction in which it is headed.

Once oil and/or gas is discovered, a production platform will replace the offshore drilling rig, which is assembled at the location using heavy lift cranes situated on a barge. These production platforms come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and types, which are dependent on the dimensions of the field, the depth of the water and how far the oil and/or gas field is from shore.

The platforms are generally made of steel and fixed to the seabed with steel "posts." These platforms harbor all of the processing equipment for the well and can house a maximum of 80 workers. In addition, platforms have concrete structures large enough to store oil, with gravity keeping them situated on the seabed

Drilling begins once the drill bit is lowered to the ocean floor. This first step is referred to as "spudding."

There are two types of drill bits: (1) "a roller cone or rock bit which usually has three cones armed with steel or tungsten carbide teeth or buttons; or (2) a diamond bit, imbedded with small industrial diamonds. The drill bit is attached to drill pipe and rotated by a turntable on the platform floor. As the hole deepens, extra lengths of drill pipe are attached." (Offshore Drilling)

The diameter of the drill bit varies from a diameter of 36 inches, which is used when the hole in the ocean floor is first started, to a diameter of 8.5 inches. The total length of a drill pipe is 30 feet. The time it takes for the drill to reach the oil and gas trap could be weeks.

In order to move the drill cuttings to the surface, so the drill can penetrate further into the ocean floor, a fluid, called "drilling fluid" is pumped down the drill pipe and into the opening made by the drill through spouts in the drill bit. The drilling fluid is pumped through the bit at high speeds, with the fluid usually being a combination of water, clay, a weighting material (most often it is barite), and a variety of chemicals. The drilling fluid produces the "weight" that is necessary to control the underground pressures. In addition, it stabilizes the hole by hardening the wall with a thin layer of clay, allowing the drill bit to stay cool.

Although the drilling fluid is utilized to control the underground pressures when drilling, offshore oil rigs also have a blowout prevention system (BOP), which is used to control the well when there is an influx of pressurized gas or oil during drilling. The BOP is a "set of hydraulically operated valves and other closure devices (rams) which seal off the well, and route the wellbore fluids to specialized controlling equipment." (Offshore Drilling) The workers trained to operate this piece of equipment reduce the possibility of a "blowout," or an unobstructed flow of fluids pouring out from the well.

When drilling an oil well, the drill does not always go perpendicular to the ocean floor. A method known as "directional drilling" was developed so drill bits enter the ocean floor laterally and travel up to several kilometers on its way to the oil and gas reservoir.

Since the drilling for oil takes place under the ocean floor, water will always be present. As the oil is extracted from the trap, the water that is extracted with it will need to be separated and returned to the ocean. This is referred to as "produced formation water" (PFW). It is stressed that the water that is returned to the ocean is clear from almost all of the oils and chemicals. The amount of petroleum hydrocarbon contained in PFW is strictly regulated. To ensure that the water returned to the ocean is clean, mechanical separation devices have been created and chemical treatments have been derived to efficiently separate the water from the oil.

(courtesy of: Gulf Coast Environmental Defense’s Offshore Drilling Primer)

The truth is that accidents CAN happen, with the main cause being human error, not the technology that is used. These accidents include leaks, spills, blowouts, barge collisions, pipeline corrosion, and explosions.

Chevron has a production plan that states:

• A blowout can release hydrocarbons (discovered during exploratory drilling)
• During refueling between vessels and rigs, accidental emissions of fluctuating amounts of diesel or other petroleum products could take place
• Between 1976 and 1985, a total of 4,736 barrels of diesel fuel was discharged with the 72 reported diesel spills—the fuel used to run the machinery on the rig
• From vessel/base support activity, a major spill could take place nearshore or inshore, which could quickly have an affect on the sensitive coastal ecosystems.

The Gulf Coast Environmental Defense’s Offshore Drilling Primer stated that offshore drilling rigs produce routine pollution "in the form of drilling muds and cuttings, produced waters, workover fluids, deck drainage, air emissions from the rig machinery and support vessels, as well as large amounts of trash."

In the drilling process, the drilling fluid is used to lubricate the drill bit as it drills through the layer of hard rock of the outer continental shelf. A toxic soup is formed when the fluid blends with rock, mud, and naturally occurring radioactive materials, which can spread at the minimum of a thousand meters from the rigs.

These drilling muds and cuttings as well as the produced waters contain, according to the EPA: arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, barite, chrome lignosulfate, petroleum hydrocarbons, vanadium, copper, aluminum, chromium, zinc, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, radionuclides, and other heavy metals. All of these chemicals pose a threat to the area surrounding the rigs for as many as forty years. Such threats are affecting the quality of the marine water, harming the organisms that stay on the bottom of the ocean, and, ultimately, having negative impacts throughout the region, which includes changes in the abundance richness and diversity of the marine life from both the physical and toxic effects.

Oil and grease, ethylbenzene, napthalene, toluene, and zinc are included in the category of workover fluids, with restrictions only having an effect on the dumping of the oil and grease.

Draining of oil, grease, drilling fluids, lubricants, ethylene, fuels, surfacants, biocides, detergents, corrosion inhibitors, bleach, cleaning solvents, coagulants, as well as other chemicals off of the rig deck has a disastrous affect on the surrounding marine environment.

For every well that is drilled, about 8,000 square feet can be covered by as much as a meter thick of drilling waste, which can remain in the environment for at least two years. If the mud were to get scattered, by a hurricane for example, the waste could ultimately last for as long as forty years. Around an exploratory well that belonged to Chevron, inspectors discovered that shovels, bags, pipes, tubing, hose, and many other forms of debris covered more than three acres.

The effects of offshore drilling are not simply felt by the surrounding environment, but also by the marine life. These effects have damaging consequences for our fisheries, food chain, balance of the ecosystem, health, and the enjoyment that we find in the diversity of nature. One compelling fact is that the federal government allows the "taking" (killing) of marine life during the drilling for oil and gas, which in return, has negative effects on various marine mammals, including manatees and dolphins. Furthermore, the extent that contaminants can amplify and bioaccumulate is unknown, and the lack of knowledge in this area has an ensuing impact on many of the marine mammals.

Routine rig pollution, oil despersants, debris, the dredging of the ocean floor to locate pipelines, and using explosives to remove rigs endangers marine life. The long term exposure to smothering, barium toxicity, and the interruption of their patterns for filter feeding that offshore oil rigs pose to the fish, has continuous effects to the many fish in the area.

One particular example of the effects that these rigs pose to the marine life that inhabits the waters around them, is the sea turtle. When sea turtles come in contact with weathered oil, they become infertile. Moreover, sea turtles are attracted to light, and the lights that are situated on the rigs pose a risk to the hatchlings, for they would be drawn towards the rigs where predator fish could be hiding. It is evident that the offshore rigs are harmful to marine life, and this one example illustrates that they do more harm than good for the environment.

Does the federal government have the right to say it is okay to take marine life in order to set up an offshore drilling rig and drill for oil and gas? The federal government seems to feel that our well being is more important than marine life, so they allow companies to drill for oil beneath the ocean floor. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performed a test, which produced results showing how drilling fluids had an effect on coral. It is ironic that a governmental agency, such as the EPA has done tests showing how disastrous offshore oil rigs can be, yet the federal government still allows the drilling to take place.

Who should have the authority to decide whether or not it is okay to drill for oil when it puts the lives of many marine organisms at risk? The federal government says it is okay, while environmentalists disagree. Recently, many governmental representatives have started to take the sides of the environmentalists; will this force top government officials to change their views?

Issue: Is it ethical to continue offshore drilling, when it is evident that they have harmful effects on the surrounding marine ecosystem? Although the drilling for oil may benefit a country’s economy, it would harm the marine life in the surrounding area, which would also be damaging to human life for they rely on some of the marine life for food. Basically, although the rigs may provide oil for a country, they ultimately have damaging effects on the food chain.

Issue: Underneath the ocean floor there is an abundance of oil and gas. By drilling for it using offshore rigs, the price of oil and gas may drop due to the fact that some countries, which rely heavily on oil and gas and their byproducts, would no longer need to import it. But if offshore drilling became more commercialized many of the marine ecosystems would suffer greatly due to the harmful effects that rigs and platforms have on the surrounding environment. So, are there any regulations that can be derived to make them safer, allowing these two environments to benefit off of one another, thus justifying offshore drilling?

Issue: Would it be fair for the countries that need oil and gas to have offshore rigs and platforms, while other countries who are not in need cannot? This could be related to the Middle East and the United States, and how the U.S. relies heavily on that region in the world for our oil supplies. If they were allowed to drill in the ocean floor they would no longer need to import their oil. On the other hand, the Middle East would lose money because they would no longer have a country purchasing large amounts of oil from them.

Issue: Offshore rigs and platforms have been shown to have negative impacts on the surrounding ecosystem. So, how virtuous would it be for humans to benefit off of the ocean, and only give back pollution and other harmful constituents? It would not be since the ocean does not benefit off of the situation in any way.

If we invade someone’s environment (marine) unexpectedly and pollute it, would we want our environment to be polluted? Although this is how Kant would normally view a situation, he would probably counter that it would not matter. Why, you may ask.

Well, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant would argue that offshore drilling is not unethical and that we should continue with this process, for we, as human beings, do not have any direct duties toward animals for they lack the ability to reason.

According to this theology, God is beyond nature, but also plays a part in the earthly process, which implies that nature should not be taken advantage of, or worshipped, but respected and appreciated, for it illustrates God’s continuous role in our lives. Therefore, offshore drilling would be wrong, for it is damaging to the surrounding marine ecosystem; meaning it does not respect nature in any way.

• The entire marine ecosystem, which includes marine life and the surrounding environments
• All human beings
• Gas and oil companies
• The federal government and economy

In order to make offshore drilling a little safer, extensive training would be mandatory for all of the worker on the rigs and platforms, which would reduce the number of spills due to human mistake. Furthermore, the technology would need to be improved, with new tools created that would eliminate the amount of pollutants released.

Marine biologists and researchers could perform a detailed study of the marine life in the surrounding area and attempt to design a rig that would be safer to the marine ecosystem and that could also be utilized by the marine life around the proposed area(s). Then they could use this new knowledge to make the existing rigs and platforms more eco-friendly.

Inspections of the rigs and platforms should continue, but the oil drilling companies should not be notified when the inspections will take place.

It is pretty much self-explanatory. However, one stipulation would be that the existing rigs would remain, so the marine environment would not have to suffer the effects of the explosive removal of the rigs and platforms. With the existing rigs, they would be deactivated and turned into a habitat for marine life, similar to an artificial reef.

In accordance with all of the ethical issues and the common good for every stakeholder involved, the best decision would be to eliminate offshore drilling all together, no ifs, ands, or buts. By completing eliminating them, the marine ecosystems would be preserved. Likewise, many lives would be saved (mostly those of marine life), all aspects of nature would be preserved (i.e. the food chain would not be disrupted), and there would be less tension between the federal government, the oil companies, environmentalists, and the public. More importantly, we would be following the process theology and respecting nature, which is what God wants us to do.

References

Offshore Drilling Page. 1999. Gulf Coast Environmental Defense. <http://www.southerncitizen.org/gced/articles/no_rigs/10_15_97dp.html> <http://www.southerncitizen.org/gced/articles/no_rigs/battle.html>

Offshore Drilling. Odyssey Magazine n° 1. <http://www.elf.fr/odyssee/us/mag/mag01/fmer.htm>

Offshore Drilling. Australian Institute of Petroleum. <http://www.aip.com.au/education/projects/pt_offshore/>

Bright, Thomas J., Thompson, Jack H. Research Product. 21 Jan. 1980. 24 Jan. 1980 <http://www.epa.gov/ged/publica/c1410.htm>

Barbour, Ian. Ethics in an Age of Technology. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.