England's Historic Seascapes: Scarborough to Hartlepool
Cornwall Council, 2007. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000201. How to cite using this DOI
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- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000201
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Introduction | Seascapes Character Types
Extractive Industry (Hydrocarbons)
- Introduction: defining/distinguishing attributes and principal locations
- Historical processes; components, features and variability
- Values and perceptions
- Research, amenity and education
- Condition & forces for change
- Rarity and vulnerability
- Sources
Introduction: defining/distinguishing attributes and principal locations
The Type Extractive Industry (Hydrocarbon) includes the following sub-types:
- Hydrocarbon Field (Gas);
- Hydrocarbon Field (Oil);
Components of this Type include:
- oil and gas fields - areas consisting of a single reservoir or multiple reservoirs all grouped on, or related to, the same individual geological structural feature or stratigraphic condition;
- sub-sea wells and wellheads;
- fixed platforms and drilling rigs;
- the oil and gas is transferred from its source by either pipelines or tankers;
- flotels - Specialist floating hotel vessels accommodating workers.
Principal hydrocarbon locations tend to be concentrated offshore in the east and south east part of the study area, to the south of Dogger Bank, and include the Tyne, Trent, Caister, Cleeton, Ketch, Munro, Murdoch, Boulton, Ravenspurn, and Schooner gas fields and the Fergus and Fife oil fields, with some pipelines and features also extending inshore to Tees Mouth and Redcar.
Historical processes; components, features and variability
The UK's offshore oil and gas originate from two sources. Firstly from subsidence and burial of marine limestones under thick accumulations of basin sediments approximately 140 million years ago which have generated gas from coal source rocks. Secondly oil and gas has also been generated from deeply-buried mudstone source rocks from approximately 65 million years ago. Thus commercial petroleum reservoirs occur in almost every sedimentary succession ranging in age from approximately 410-36 million years (BGS 2001).
This Type is usually an imposition onto other Types, as extractive industries and their components are determined by the location of their source. A number of other HSC Types will therefore have been altered by historical processes associated with the hydrocarbon extractive industries in this area. Rigs, pipelines and wells are likely to have disturbed Types such as wrecks, fisheries and palaeo-landscapes.
Oil and gas were the most important natural resources to be discovered in the UK during the 20th century. They provide energy and essential chemicals for the home, industry, and the transport system as well as earning valuable export and tax revenues to support the UK economy.
For centuries oil was either imported or small quantities were produced in Britain from shales. During World War One, when importing oil became more difficult, the Government encouraged companies to drill for oil. The first successes came in 1937 when an onshore gas field was found in Yorkshire. Oil was increasingly replacing coal as a fuel across the world at this time. For safety and ease of unloading and storage, specialised oil terminals were developed in the interwar years, sometimes away from existing ports (Friel 2003, 268).
Not until the 1960s, however, was there an international agreement about ownership of mineral rights in the shallow seas outside the three mile limits of the countries around the North Sea (Hagland 1985, 270). In 1965 the Drilling Barge Sea Gem, situated 42 miles off the Mouth of the River Humber, was the first rig to find gas in the British North Sea sector. North Sea oil came on line in 1971 and was piped ashore at Teesside until 1975. Exploitation did not become economically feasible, however, until the world's second conference on the international law of the sea agreed that natural resources outside the 200 mile zone were the common inheritance of all mankind in 1974 (ibid, 269), and with rising oil prices in the 1980s.
Gas is the dominant hydrocarbon found in this area of the southern North Sea, with oil being more abundant further to the north in the central and northern North Sea areas. Around a third of the wellheads and subsea installations in this study area are abandoned, suspended, lifted or not currently in use.
Extraction in the North Sea's inhospitable climate and great depths requires sophisticated offshore technology. Consequently, the region is a relatively high-cost producer, but its political stability and proximity to major European consumer markets have allowed it to play a major role in world oil and natural gas markets. Five countries operate crude oil and natural gas production facilities in the North Sea: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
By 2001, on the UK continental shelf, some 280 platforms (Figure 9.1) and 300 subsea completions were producing approximately 2.3 million barrels per day of oil and 100 million m3 per day of gas, involving the use of approximately 2000 chemical products (DTI 2001a).
Surviving remains will include abandoned well heads (and spoil from their sinking) and pipelines, but fixed platforms, drilling rigs and flotels will tend to have been dismantled or moved elsewhere when a field has been depleted.
Figure 9.1. British Petrol (BP) oil rig in the North Sea (© Hartlepool Arts & Museum Service)
Values and Perceptions
The male-dominated workforce is exposed to demands and constraints over and above those experienced in comparable jobs onshore. Employment peaked at 90,000 in the mid 1980s, with fluctuations in oil prices. Cost-reduction measures have included widespread down-manning (particularly on older platforms) and increased job insecurity. The boom years are now over. Because of the finite nature of hydrocarbons, the decline in this industry was always inevitable, and with increasing issues relating to the effect of using these resources on global warming, the attitudes towards this industry are invariably mixed.
Research, amenity and education
The prospection for hydrocarbons has generated a wealth of detailed seismic data profiling the nature and form of the sea bed. This information may be invaluable to archaeologists seeking to research the palaeo-landscapes and archaeological potential of the North Sea. Prospection will have also entailed extensive geological and environmental research, particularly on the effects on offshore pollution. Greater dissemination of this research may aid in future archaeological and historical research into this area.
Development, components and perceptions have all been well documented, through newspapers, television, photographs, books and reports, etc. An oral history project, 'Lives in the Oil Industry', was begun in 2000 by the University of Aberdeen and the British Library Sound Archive. In their own words, oil workers discuss the skills, hazards and complexity of producing oil. Those being interviewed came from all parts of the industry and included offshore workers, people involved in platform construction work, management, unions, the legal, financial and political sectors as well as technical specialists such as geologists, engineers and flight crews. Others interviewed included people living in the areas of the UK that have been affected by the impact of the oil and gas industry. The scope of the project extends beyond Britain to contributors from continental Europe and the USA (Brotherstone and Manson 2002, 45).
Condition & forces for change
Output from the largest producers - the UK and Norway - has peaked and entered a period of long term decline. Nevertheless there are still almost 500 platforms and 10,000 kilometres of rigid and flexible oil and gas pipelines running between offshore production wells and terminals on land (DTI 2001a).
To minimise the risk of adverse impact on the marine environment during exploration and production, there is a range of legislation that ensures consistent environmental standards throughout the offshore oil and gas industry. DEFRAs 'Safeguarding our Seas' report (2002) recognises the vital role offshore oil and gas industry plays in meeting the economic and social needs of the UK and they are continuing to take steps to ensure that this is not at the expense of the marine environment. In liaison with the Department of Trade and Industry, they are currently carrying out Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) of the entire United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) to ensure that future oil and gas licensing is carried out on a sound and informed basis. These SEAs are a process of appraisal through which environmental protection and sustainable development may be considered, and factored into national and local decisions regarding Government (and other) plans and programmes - such as oil and gas licensing rounds. Operators must also submit an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for all new offshore developments, or obtain a dispensation from this requirement. During each round of offshore licensing, Government Departments and their Agencies recommend appropriate conditions and restrictions on each block to minimise the potential environmental impact of exploration and production. Conditions cover a wide range of issues including impacts of drilling and seismic activity on fish, sea birds, marine habitats, interference with other sea users, and the formulation of drill muds.
Part of the Dogger Bank has been proposed as a draft Special Area of Conservation (dSAC). The Dogger bank dSAC includes areas of existing oil and gas activity.
Where possible, vulnerable structures such as wellhead clusters and valves are placed within a safety zone and provided with further protection such as a composite structure with a steel framework, designed with sloping sides to deflect trawls. Pipelines are either trenched or placed on the sea bed and are protected by the addition of a protective coating or by burial. Traditionally, pipelines of diameter less than 16 inches were buried for their own protection, while larger diameter pipelines were left on the sea bed and were unlikely to be seriously damaged. Even pipelines which are protected on the surface by rock dumping can also present a hazard to towed fishing gears. It is normal practice to apply for a safety zone at all sub-sea developments, but these are not marked with surface buoys. Without such visible markers, the offshore oil and gas industry is dependent on fishing vessels maintaining a safe distance from all sea bed structures (DTI 2001a).
Rarity and vulnerability
Oil and gas is only found in certain parts of the British mainland and territorial waters. Numbers of working installations are declining, but there will be permanent remains of several hundred in the North Sea.
Statutory protection for modern structures currently exists in the form of designated safety zones around them, the purpose of which is to protect the safety of people working on or in the immediate vicinity of the installation and the installation itself against damage. They also provide the additional benefit of protecting fishermen and other mariners by reducing the risk of collision with the installation and preventing loss of gear which can become snagged on underwater equipment.
Recommendations
Ensure that the sea is managed in an environmentally sustainable way. Legislation and Government recommendations should place conditions and restrictions on each licensed block to minimise the potential impact on natural and historic environmental features.
The new Marine Bill White Paper: A Sea For Change, has recently been published by DEFRA for consultation (15/03/2007) and its provisions on oil and gas exploration and exploitation recommend that the oil and gas sector should feature in and take account of marine plans when making licensing and consenting decisions. It suggests that 'any decisions made in the marine area, or that could have implications for the marine area, should be made in accordance with the shared UK marine policy statement and any relevant marine plan. When taking decisions, public bodies should have to review the content of the policy statement, in addition to the content of any relevant marine plan, to ensure that their proposed course of action is in accordance with both. They intend that bodies should act in accordance with the plan, a marine plan would not always be the only consideration, and at the time of taking a decision there would be a number of other relevant considerations the decision-maker would need to bear in mind, including:
- the results of any Appropriate Assessment or EIA undertaken as part of the decision-making process, which may reveal information that was not contained in plans;
- the marine environment is dynamic and changes, or new discoveries (e.g. oil & gas);
- may have taken place or have been made since plans were adopted;
- new, or changed statutory obligations;
- new government policies; or
- appropriate and effective ways to respond to emergency situations.
This is an approach that is already very familiar on land: the Town and Country Planning Act 199041, as amended by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 200438, is an example of this approach working in practice' (DEFRA March 2007, 35-6).
The risk of damage to sites has to be balanced against the advantage of their discovery. This judgement depends on the monitoring and licensing of marine industrial processes, including acoustic surveys, coring, drilling, pipe-laying and maintenance and dredging. Industry should be encouraged to participate in joint projects that help with the conservation of submarine prehistoric sites and landscapes by ensuring that correct project design and mitigation is employed to ensure that the integrity of archaeological sites is not adversely affected.
Improved partnership working may be facilitated using the precedent of the BMAPA/EH Protocol for Reporting Finds of Archaeological Interest. The Protocol provides a mechanism for finds being made by the aggregate dredging industry, on the seabed, on board dredging vessels, and at wharves, to be recorded.
Oral history projects, such as the abovementioned project 'Lives in the Oil Industry', make a unique and vital contribution to identifying the values and perceptions associated with this character type. Further oral and sociological history projects of this kind should be encouraged for other areas.
Sources
Publications:
BGS, 2001. The geology of the North Sea: SEA2 Technical Report 008. DTI
Brotherstone, T, and Manson, H, 2002. Life-stories from North Sea Oil, in History Scotland, Vol. 2, No 1, Jan/Feb 2002.
DTI 2001a. North Sea Fish & Fisheries.Strategic Environmental Assessment - SEA2 Technical Report 003.
DTI 2001b, Strategic Environmental Assessment - SEA2 Technical Report 004 . DTI
Friel, I, 2003. Maritime History of Britain and Ireland. The British Museum Press.
Hagland, J, 1985. The oil adventure in the North Sea seen from Norway, in A Bang-Andersen et al (eds), 1985, The North Sea. A Highway of economic and cultural exchange. Character-history. Norwegian University Press, 267-276
Krahn, D, 2002. From an article entitled 'Life-stories from North Sea Oil' by Terry Brotherstone and Hugo Manson, in History Scotland, Vol. 2, No 1, Jan/Feb 2002.
Websites:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/North_Sea/Background.html
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/oillives/about/nsoghist.shtml
http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/nlscoil.html
http://www.og.dti.gov.uk/index.htm
http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/bmapa/arch-interest.html
http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg189.pdf
