Wildlife Photographer 2007 - call for entries

Well Bill that was part of the Shell problem, Pipeline safety etc is also important factors. Then of course you have the debacle of what Shell was accused of in the Niger Delta at Otuegwe, where they left untold ecological damage by using crappy methods of cleaning up (forest burning etc). Nigeria was in serious ecological trouble from oil spills by insufficient safety standards, all operated by Shell in the 90s. Nigeria provides I think over 10% of Shell oil and Shell in turn gives Nigeria over 70% of all its oil export revenues. In the 90s, nearly 40% of all oil spills in Shell's history happened in the Niger Delta.

Google Shell and the Niger Delta and you'll find a plethora of reasons why Shell embarked on a greenwash campaign in 2000.

Not that most other oil companies are blemish free.

Interesting thread! As Drew points out, not all of the environmental impacts are offshore, many of them are in the tidelands and onshore refining plants. Then you have Nigeria - which is a "special" place w/ major conflicts and people using hand-drills to extract products from pipelines for personal use...

But to answer the "offshore" question, you have discharges and emissions and that's basically it now-adays. Most of the new platforms are floating, so have very little impact.

The bad discharges are oil based muds and well completion fluids - neither of which are supposed to be discharged anymore in most places. These are all associated with drilling. The actually production platforms have very little impact.

Most emmissions are from diesel engines which as we know are pretty prevalent in developing countries. If electrical power is available (via cable) then some of the rigs can be electrically driven - like in California.

Cheers

James

Hey James so you're saying that at the drilling stage, it's pretty much supose to be clean? What about the refining stage? Will oil be priced at $200 or more if all levels were up to "green" standard?

Sorry Drew, I don't know anything about "downstream." Once it's flowing in the pipeline to shore, my expertise ends.

Cheers

James

Hey James so you're saying that at the drilling stage, it's pretty much supose to be clean? What about the refining stage? Will oil be priced at $200 or more if all levels were up to "green" standard?

For those of us who pay for our oil at the pump in the UK it costs more than $200 per barrel! If governments didn't tax fuel then we could have it green at the same price!

Alex

hehe Alex... that's cos you have a petrol guzzling car

Government taxes are passed over to the consumers. Otherwise, oil companies wouldn't be posting record profits since oil prices increased in 2001. If prices were $200 a barrel of crude, I seriously doubt ANY government would risk pissing off the voters by taxing that heavily, without an increase in disposable income to compensate. Ok GW is different.

And really, this topic has moved towards the conservation end of the spectrum. Are there any other co-sponsors who are less controversial? Like Foster's or Decantae?

Shell's new V-Power fuel improves my car's by about 8% compared to standard fuel (according to the car's computer)!

Alex

yeah yeah yeah...all I can say is... 2009 = TESLA Roadster

Divers as a whole (I know there are exceptions) probably contribute more than their fair share to CO2 emissions at least. We travel very far distances, mostly by airplane to get on boats fueled mostly by diesel or gasoline so that we can see "nature" at its best. Many divers are quite ecologically aware in spirit, but how many purchase carbon buybacks to cover their flights and how many ride their bicycle to work etc. . .

That is a very good point; we divers tend to view ourselves as especially eco-conscious, but collectively (and even individually!) contribute tons of CO2 emissions via our dive travel...

I recently discovered something called Terrapass ( http://www.terrapass.com/ ) that enables you to "offset" the emissions you create by funding an offsetting amount of renewable energy. I'm not sure how closelyl anybody audits the Terrapass people to make sure they're actually doing what they say, but I like the idea. I've got a Terrapass for each of my gas-guzzling vehicles, plus one for flying, and if nothing else, it at least eases my conscience...