Following the successful Environmental Impact Assessment carried out for Desire Petroleum in Tranches C and D offshore in the North Falkland Basin in 2005/6, RPS has now been awarded further E.I.A.s for both Desire Petroleum PLC and Rockhopper Exploration PLC's oil exploration drilling project in the North Falkland Basin. RPS' assessments are for Desire's Tranches I and L, and Rockhopper's Licences PLO23 and PLO24 located in the south of the basin.

This part of the Basin has yet to be drilled with the prospective horizons older than those drilled to the north in Tranches C and D and Licences PL032 and PL033 in 1998. Both companies have acquired seismic data over the area to identify the most promising prospects for subsequent exploration drilling. Rockhopper has also undertaken an electro-magnetic survey over Lead J1 in the region - now called Ernest, with very positive results indicating that Ernest may contain over 100M barrels of recoverable oil.

The new E.I.A.s will assist in adding prospects in these licences to the inventory of prospects which may be drilled. Rockhopper are anticipating that suitable floating drilling units may become available next year.

In undertaking the Environmental Impact Assessment, RPS Energy consultants considered a number of factors including the populations of sea-birds and marine mammals, fishing interests and social aspects, benthic communities and seafloor habitats. RPS Energy will also be working closely with RPS - P & D in Belfast, who will be compiling a hydrodynamic model for the area in order to carry out spill and drill cuttings dispersion modelling for the Environmental Impact Assessments.

The areas of concern for potential significant impact have previously been identified as discharge of drill cuttings, risk of offshore and nearshore spills, and onshore disposal of waste material. Risks identified of medium significance included air emissions from potential well tests and routine operations, the risk of chemical spills, handling and treatment of waste materials, and the physical presence of an oil rig.

RPS recommended a wide range of mitigation measures to respond to these potential impacts, which included:

• Maintaining a spirit of openness and ongoing consultation with the Falkland Islands Government (FIG), the public and key stakeholders.
• Applying International best practice and established UK standards to operations, particularly in offshore chemical use and emissions reporting.
• Using only water based drilling muds and low toxicity chemicals approved under the UK Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme.
• Implementing a high level of environmental management offshore and applying environmental procedures for potentially impacting operations (chemical storage, bunkering, waste handling, maintenance programmes, seafloor surveys etc).
• Monitoring and reporting consumption and emission figures in accordance with the UK Environmental Emissions Monitoring System (EEMS).
• Producing high-resolution 3-D seafloor mapping to assist in rig anchoring and the identification of seafloor structures and potential seafloor habitats.
• Establishing and implementing a project specific Oil Spill Response Plan and carrying out training of key personnel in spill response. Employing Oil Spill Response Ltd in the UK to provide outside assistance in the case of a major spill.
• Implementing a detailed waste management plan to minimise the quantity of waste going to landfill, prevent unsuitable disposal of waste, maximise the re-use of materials and establish the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for storage, treatment, transfer and disposal of waste materials.
• Collecting and sharing environmental data wherever possible, for example in offshore sightings, seabed surveys and metocean conditions.

Speaking on the E.I.A. award, RPS Energy Environmental Manager, Jon Perry said: "We are extremely pleased to be awarded these E.I.A.s based on our previous environmental work in this area. We look forward to working with Desire and Rockhopper and the various stakeholders in the Falkland Islands to again produce a high standard of environmental assessment which suitably reflects our clients' commitment to the environment of the Falkland Islands."

To see the Environmental Impact Assessment, please click here.

Notes:
1) Statistics used in this article are from the Environmental Impact Assessment (RPS Energy), the Rockhopper Exploration website (www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk) and the Desire Petroleum website (www.desireplc.co.uk).

Contact:
RPS Woking - Energy
T: 01483 746500
RPS Belfast (Elmwood House) - Planning & Development
T: 028 9066 7914