Natural gas leak in the North Sea
The natural gas leak in the North Sea is a leakage point for biogenic methane off the coast of Scotland that was created in 1990 during prospecting work by Mobil Oil . It is estimated that around 300,000 tons of methane enter the sea every year.
Course of events
In 1990 the Swedish Stena Drilling Company was drilling for oil under the North Sea 140 kilometers off the Scottish coast on behalf of Mobil North Sea (now Exxon Mobil ) . On November 20, however, the High Seas Driller drilling platform encountered gas instead of oil at a depth of around 400 meters. This resulted in an uncontrolled blowout , which resulted in a 15-meter crater on the sea floor. A research trip by the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) in 1994 showed very high methane concentrations on the sea surface near the blowout. In another research trip by GEOMAR in 2005, it was possible to detect persistent gas leaks from the crater to the surface. The crater was measured again and now shows a diameter of 60 meters at a depth of approx. 20 meters. A dive trip with the manned dive boat Jago in the following year 2006 provided spectacular pictures from the crater. Large amounts of methane escape in several places, an estimated 1000 liters per second. A large part of it dissolves in sea water.
consequences
A large amount of gas reaches the sea surface in the form of bubbles. This proportion is estimated at a third. The spot is therefore marked as a danger area on nautical charts. The currents generated by the rising gas are so strong that it is difficult for ships and submarines to maintain their position in close proximity.
The methane remaining in the sea is mostly considered to be ecologically harmless; among other things, it serves as an energy source for bacteria, which mussels use as food. Other sources, on the other hand, assume at least “suffocation effects”.
Only recently has there been a growing awareness that the release of methane into the atmosphere represents a significant burden on the climate, as methane is 20 to 30 times more climate-friendly than carbon dioxide . GEOMAR is actively involved in researching the methane leak. The British Ministry of Energy and Climate Protection, on the other hand, had already stopped its investigations at the end of the 1990s. According to Mobil North Sea, the well has now been "returned to the British government".
In the emissions trading the leak is not included because it only affects greenhouse gases from industrial plants and power stations.
Troubleshooting
According to information from the German federal government from 2010, a German or European initiative on this issue is not to be expected for the time being.
See also
Web links
- Die Zeit : The disaster is just around the corner, No. 24/2010 of June 10, 2010
- Science information service: "Whirlpool" on the North Sea bottom October 30, 2006
- Welt Online: Dangerous gas flows out of the North Sea May 14, 2007
- Rehder, G., Keir, RS, Suess, E., & Pohlmann, T. (1998). The Multiple Sources and Patterns of Methane in North Sea Waters. Aquatic Geochemistry, 4 (3-4), 403-427 .
- Schneider von Deimling, J., Brockhoff, J., & Greinert, J. (2007). Flare imaging with multibeam systems: data processing for bubble detection at seeps. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 8 (6) .
- Strong GHG emissions from marine oil production: 20 years of gas blowout in the North Sea - consequences for EU emissions trading. Retrieved April 30, 2016 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gas leak in the North Sea: Bubbling danger from the depths , Spiegel Online , March 30, 2012
- ↑ Focus: Scientists fear methane gas from borehole , June 18, 2010
- ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to Small Inquiry: Natural gas blowout off the coast of Scotland (PDF; 79 kB), BT-Drs. 17/4342 of December 16, 2010
Coordinates: 57 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ N , 1 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ E