Shell
Climate warning
Climate warning
Jacqueline Marchelli
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Planning underwater explosions during peak whale mating season
Shell is planning to search for oil and gas along the South African coastline, a move that will threaten whales during mating season. The oil giant is going to conduct underwater explosions to locate deep-sea oil and gas reservesfor five months starting 1 December in an area known as the Wild Coast. These explosions generate loud shock wave emissions which penetrate through three km of water and 40 km into the Earth’s crust below the seabed, harming marine life in the process. The "Oceans Not Oil" Coalition has started a petition to try and get Barbara Creecy (South Africa’s Minister for the Environment) to revoke Shell’s permit ; it has currently nearly 363,000 signatures. It claims the explosions will leave whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, sharks and even crabs “panicked and damaged”, adding that the ship will work around the clock, firing air guns every 10 seconds. Petition https://www.change.org/p/shearwater-geoservices-shearwatergeo-and-shell-stop-blasting-the-wild-coast-our-voices-can-make-a-difference-and-put-an-end-to-shell-blasting-in-the-wild-coast?signed=true More on this subject https://www.greenbuildingafrica.co.za/urgent-interdict-filed-to-stop-shells-seismic-survey-off-south-africas-wild-coast/ https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/12/01/shell-plans-underwater-explosions-during-peak-whale-mating-season
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Pinned by We Don't Have Time
As legal hearings about the survey are not yet completed and the weather window for conducting the work is limited, Shell has decided to terminate the current contract for the survey vessel early, in agreement with the contractor. We are looking ahead to a resolution of the outstanding legal case and are considering best way forward for the licence in the longer term. Surveys of this nature have been conducted for over 50 years with more than 15 years of extensive peer-reviewed scientific research. South Africa is highly reliant on energy imports for many of its energy needs. If viable resources were to be found offshore, this could significantly contribute to the country’s energy security and the government’s economic development programmes. For detailed background, there’s a letter from the Chair of Shell South Africa, and FAQs, here: https://www.shell.co.za/energy-and-innovation/wild-coast-seismic-survey.html Here is a summary: What does the survey entail? We are targeting a specific area within our exploration block where we believe there may be potential hydrocarbon deposits beneath the seabed. To understand if there could be viable resources, we need to build up an image of what the subsurface looks like in our targeted survey area. Seismic waves are emitted from a sound source at the back of a seismic vessel and sent below ground. As the sound waves move through the various geological formations, part of the energy is transmitted down to deeper layers, while the remainder is reflected back up to the surface. The reflected waves are picked up by a series of sensitive receivers. The seismic data are then analysed to identify whether there are potential hydrocarbons. South Africa has already had many similar offshore surveys safely completed. What mitigations were in place when the survey was going on? We have been taking great care to prevent harm to marine wildlife by having the following mitigations in place: -Conducting the survey outside of the sensitive environmental window period for migrating whales in South Africa. -Doing the survey between 20km-70km from the shore to ensure that there will be no impact to small scale fishing. -There is an exclusion zone of at least 500m around the sound source and the survey noise output will be suspended when a marine mammal enters it -Conducting a pre-watch for at least 60 minutes to confirm there is no marine animal within the exclusion zone before operations can commence. If any animal enters the exclusion zone (500m), operations are immediately shutdown. -Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) was being done 24 hours a day during the survey to account for any deep diving species in the area, as well as to provide information during hours of darkness and/or poor visibility. -The exclusion zone of at least 500m around the sound source means that no animals would have come into the near vicinity of the sound source. If any animal enters the exclusion zone, operations are immediately shutdown. A pre-watch must be conducted for at least 60 minutes to confirm there is no marine animal within the exclusion zone before operations can commence. -On start-up, the sound is increased slowly to allow any animals in the surrounding area to gradually move away from the sound source.
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What is the status quo of this today? Does shell still have the permit?
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Sad
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I also want to thank Shell for answering us, and I agree with @ingmar_rentzhog that Shell does have a lot of knowledge about drilling, that could well be used for geothermal enegery. For instance, you could work together with companies such as Eavor. https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/5ceae996-9e8a-426f-89a4-0e6fab66eecf
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As legal hearings about the survey are not yet completed and the weather window for conducting the work is limited, Shell has decided to terminate the current contract for the survey vessel early, in agreement with the contractor. We are looking ahead to a resolution of the outstanding legal case and are considering best way forward for the licence in the longer term. Surveys of this nature have been conducted for over 50 years with more than 15 years of extensive peer-reviewed scientific research. South Africa is highly reliant on energy imports for many of its energy needs. If viable resources were to be found offshore, this could significantly contribute to the country’s energy security and the government’s economic development programmes. For detailed background, there’s a letter from the Chair of Shell South Africa, and FAQs, here: https://www.shell.co.za/energy-and-innovation/wild-coast-seismic-survey.html Here is a summary: What does the survey entail? We are targeting a specific area within our exploration block where we believe there may be potential hydrocarbon deposits beneath the seabed. To understand if there could be viable resources, we need to build up an image of what the subsurface looks like in our targeted survey area. Seismic waves are emitted from a sound source at the back of a seismic vessel and sent below ground. As the sound waves move through the various geological formations, part of the energy is transmitted down to deeper layers, while the remainder is reflected back up to the surface. The reflected waves are picked up by a series of sensitive receivers. The seismic data are then analysed to identify whether there are potential hydrocarbons. South Africa has already had many similar offshore surveys safely completed. What mitigations were in place when the survey was going on? We have been taking great care to prevent harm to marine wildlife by having the following mitigations in place: -Conducting the survey outside of the sensitive environmental window period for migrating whales in South Africa. -Doing the survey between 20km-70km from the shore to ensure that there will be no impact to small scale fishing. -There is an exclusion zone of at least 500m around the sound source and the survey noise output will be suspended when a marine mammal enters it -Conducting a pre-watch for at least 60 minutes to confirm there is no marine animal within the exclusion zone before operations can commence. If any animal enters the exclusion zone (500m), operations are immediately shutdown. -Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) was being done 24 hours a day during the survey to account for any deep diving species in the area, as well as to provide information during hours of darkness and/or poor visibility. -The exclusion zone of at least 500m around the sound source means that no animals would have come into the near vicinity of the sound source. If any animal enters the exclusion zone, operations are immediately shutdown. A pre-watch must be conducted for at least 60 minutes to confirm there is no marine animal within the exclusion zone before operations can commence. -On start-up, the sound is increased slowly to allow any animals in the surrounding area to gradually move away from the sound source.
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@Shell thank you for responding to the Climate Warning ⚠️ and working to respond in a transparent way 👍 Many do know that energy security and related costs are an important impact for South Africa (and other countries in southern half of the African content). Especially in terms of transport and electricity generation. I would challenge Shell to act on investing in other more sustainable energy solutions for Africa, many of which are well proven but just need scaling. Personally I divested my O&G shares a while back because I don't see it as a medium / long term growth market (on top of environmental impacts), so all that capital is now in companies who have substantial RE or are lowering their negative impacts annually. I am not alone, so it may be something to think harder about.
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Thanks, @shell for your long answer and that you have halted this operation. My dream is that big oil companies move away from oil extraction completely and becomes the big energy giant of the future. Do you look into geothermal energy? You can use all your knowledge about how to drill and produce clean energy for real. Shell doesn't have a good history but it is never too late to change.
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@shell the transition of @orsted (former Danish Oil and Gas) is a good example of the transition @ingmar_rentzhog is talking about.
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Dear Jacqueline Marchelli Thank you for getting your climate warning to level 2! We have reached out to Shell and asked for a response. I will keep you updated on any progress! /Adam We Don't Have Time
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Whales and dolphins are sentient creatures. Dolphins give each other individual names. The great whales play a crucial role in ocean carbon uptake and storage. Destroying their hearing and echolocation for the sake of fossil fuels is beyond cruel - it's mad.
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Profit over human and environment as usual.... analogous to choosing extinction over existence
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What kind of people are running Shell?
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Shell should give it a rest !
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Totally crazy
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Shell always find a way to do things worse for our planet, it's a state of mind for them!
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