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AAR Chapter 10 Go back to opening screen 661 Chapter 10 Petroleum Hydrocarbons –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Contents The extent and severity of ecological impacts and the po- tential and time scale for recovery depend on many factors. 10.1. Reason for concern. 661 In principle, the ecological effects of petroleum hydrocar- 10.2. Regional development and transportation bons are similar in tropical, temperate, and Arctic environ- of petroleum resources . 664 10.2.1. Canada . 664 ments for related or similar biological targets. The impor- 10.2.2. United States . 664 tant environmental differences between ecosystem or cli- 10.2.3. Russia . 665 matic regions are those that affect the distribution, composi- 10.2.4. Nordic countries . 666 10.2.5. Environmental regulation related to tion, physical state, and fate of the petroleum hydrocarbons. Arctic oil and gas activities . 667 In the Arctic, the rate of biological recovery from oil damage 10.3. Sources of hydrocarbons is considered to be slower than in more temperate regions and related pollutants to the Arctic . 667 due to slower growth rates, shorter growing seasons, higher 10.3.1. Natural oil seeps . 667 generation turnover times, and higher ages at maturity. The 10.3.2. Exploration and production activities . 668 10.3.2.1. Drilling muds and cuttings . 668 overall implication is that for similar events, the effects of oil 10.3.2.2. Produced water . 669 pollution may be more severe and persistent in the Arctic en- 10.3.3. Oil spills . 669 10.3.4. Shipping . 670 vironment than in other environments. Furthermore, experi- 10.3.5. Local land-based discharges and runoff . 670 ence has shown that it is generally invalid and unsuccessful 10.3.6. Long-range transport of petroleum hydrocarbons simply to take the results of damage assessments or the ap- into the Arctic . 670 proaches for cleaning up oil spills for regions outside the 10.4. Environmental transport and fate Arctic and apply these directly to Arctic situations. The envi- of petroleum hydrocarbons . 671 10.4.1. Aquatic environments . 671 ronmental threats to the Arctic associated with oil and gas 10.4.1.1. Dispersion of oil in the sea . 671 development, production, and transport are primarily local 10.4.1.2. Dispersion of oil in freshwater . 672 and/or regional and not circumpolar in scale. An important 10.4.1.3. Environmental alteration of oil . 673 10.4.1.4. Oil spill modeling . 674 exception can occur however, for certain species of migra- 10.4.1.5. The retention of oil by coasts . 676 tory animals which congregate within relatively small areas 10.4.2. Oil spills on land . 676 if the period of congregation overlaps with intense distur- 10.5. Levels of petroleum hydrocarbons . 678 bances (e.g., large oil spills). In such cases, devastating im- 10.5.1. Levels in the marine environment . 679 10.5.2. Levels in the freshwater environment. 681 pacts could occur at the population level. 10.5.3. Levels in the terrestrial environment . 682 There are various types of petroleum hydrocarbon pollu- 10.6. Levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) . 682 tants that contribute to the overall hydrocarbon load into 10.6.1. PAHs in the marine environment . 683 the Arctic environment. For the purposes of this report, the 10.6.2. PAHs in the freshwater environment . 685 10.6.3. PAHs in the terrestrial environment . 685 primary categories of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants to be discussed include crude oil, refined oil products, polynu- 10.7. Environmental effects . 685 10.7.1. Effects in terrestrial ecosystems . 685 clear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and natural gas and 10.7.2. Effects in freshwater ecosystems . 686 condensates. This discussion will be focused on the petro- 10.7.3. Effects in coastal and marine ecosystems . 687 leum hydrocarbons as they occur and affect Arctic ecosys- 10.7.3.1. Plankton communities and productivity . 687 10.7.3.2. Benthic communities . 688 tems. It will not address the effects that the development and 10.7.3.3. Sub-ice communities . 689 use of Arctic petroleum hydrocarbon can have both outside 10.7.3.4. Fish, birds, and marine mammals . 689 the Arctic and on global environmental issues such as cli- 10.7.3.5. Effects of petroleum activity on marine organisms and systems . 691 mate change and global warming. Some petroleum hydro- 10.7.4. Biological effects of PAHs . 692 carbons and the products of combustion of petroleum hy- 10.8. Conclusions and recommendations . 693 drocarbons, (e.g. carbon dioxide), can play a substantial role Acknowledgments . 694 in such changes. For example, methane, the simplest petro- References . 694 leum hydrocarbon, is also a greenhouse gas. Its atmospheric Annex . 701 concentration is increasing as a result of human activities re- lated primarily to biospheric impacts (e.g., melting of per- mafrost) and fossil fuel production and use. Production of oil in the Arctic and its refining and use will contribute to the global release of methane. Further information concern- 10.1. Reason for concern ing climate change aspects of hydrocarbon pollution can be Petroleum hydrocarbons have been detected in all abiotic found in IPCC (1995). and biotic compartments of the circumpolar Arctic envi- A special focus of this report is on the petroleum hydro- ronment. An evaluation of the effects of petroleum hydro- carbon resources (Table 10·1) of the Arctic environment. carbons in the Arctic needs to take into account various Major projects for development of oil and gas resources in environmentally significant factors. These factors include the Arctic are currently underway or planned for the near the relative quantities of discharges, differences in single future in the Barents and Kara Seas of Russia and the North well and multi-well oil and gas exploratory and production Slope of Alaska (Figure 10·1). It appears likely that the first activities, geographical extent of effects, potential for re- substantive offshore development in the Arctic will take covery, special environmental characteristics (e.g., low av- place in the Barents/Pechora Sea region of the Russian Fed- erage temperature, low light intensity, ice cover, etc.), and eration. Taking into account the vulnerability of the Arctic presence of sensitive or vulnerable populations. environment, these developments could increase the poten- 662 AMAP Assessment Report Table 10·1. Estimates of Arctic proved reserves; yearly production; and tial for large-scale releases of oil with associated risks to undiscovered, conventionally recoverable oil. Arctic ecosystems. Primary concerns associated with major –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Undiscovered, new developments involve the increased risks of accidents conventionally and the increased difficulties of taking remedial measures in Proved Yearly recover- such severe environments. Other major concerns relate to reserves production able oil Country (ϫ106 m3)(ϫ106 m3)(ϫ106 m3) the potential effects of spilled oil on commercial fisheries –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– and the loss or alteration of habitats. This may result in eco- Canada 21 (1984) 1.3(1995) 1701 (1994) nomic consequences (e.g., closure of fishing areas and the United States 915b (1994) 90 b (1994) 3630 b (1995) tainting of seafood). The Arctic part of the Norwegian and a c d Russia (Tyumen Oblast only) 15700 (1994) 274 (1993) Russian fishing areas is highly productive with an annual Nordic countries 440 e (1994) 2e (1994) 695e (1994) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– harvest of approximately 2-3.5 million tonnes of fish from a. The Russian method of estimating reserves is quite different from that the Barents Sea alone (Institute of Marine Research, Nor- used in Western countries. Direct comparisons with Western classifications way, pers. comm.). is impossible. As a rule-of-thumb Western assessments of recoverable re- Table 10·2 provides an overview of the types of activities serves are half as large as the Russian assessments. (Kryukov et al. 1996). b. Sherwood, Craig, and Cooke 1996. c. Kryukov et al. 1996. associated with various phases of oil and gas developments, d. Anon. 1994. e. NPD 1995. the corresponding types of chemicals used and pollution North Alaska Sverdrup Basin Western Siberia Barents Sea Oil production Gas production Oil and gas production Area of exploration drilling Navigation routes Major pipeline arteries AMAP boundary Hydrocarbon bearing structures Figure 10·1. Major areas of oil and gas development and potential development in the Arctic, and major shipping routes and possible new routes through Arctic waters. Chapter 10 · Petroleum Hydrocarbons 663 Table 10·2. Oil-related environmental impact. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Activity Type of pollution Main chemicals Sites affected Potential effects targets –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Exploration phase ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rigging Physical disturbance, None Locally on site and Soils, permafrost stability, bot- noise, physical presence along transport routes tom sediments, vegetation, fauna, behavioral patterns ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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