Vilifying the Petroleum Industry
By Dr. Constantinos Hadjistassou
Recently a series of articles appearing in the press
and on the web have dealt with the “industrialisation” of Larnaca’s harbour. It all culminated in a
demonstration by a group of Larnaca residents
outside the harbour demanding the removal of the
exploratory drilling facilities that are being planned
there. Observing these events one came away with
the impression that ordinary people are not exactly
aware of what to expect, nor do they seem to have
been properly informed. Contributing to this lack of
awareness were the news stories that spoke of “fait
accompli” and warning of the health risks posed to
local residents, as well as the inadequate information provided by state policymakers. It’s therefore
useful to clarify certain contentious issues.
For starters, “industrialisation” is considerably different to the provision of oil field services to corporations that have been granted prospecting and
production licences. Without these services it would
be impossible to explore for natural gas and oil. But
what services are these exactly? What is their ecological footprint and what impact do they have on
people’s health?
8 |CyprusGasNews
The exploration stage focuses on the acquisition and
processing of seismic and other data. Once the data
has been duly processed, the “target location” of the
exploratory well is determined. Operating the drill
requires a string of other specialised operations such
as drilling mud, logging, core sampling, marine risers,
supplies (food, water, fuel), remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV), etc.
Nearly all the equipment needs to be stored, serviced, tested and repaired on land. It is then loaded
onto support vessels and transported to the drill
platform for use. The process and procedure followed
during the drilling in Block 12 will be repeated in
the other five licensed offshore blocks. This gear will
be imported, and will not be manufactured in the
harbour. Aside from the emissions arising from the
above operations, no serious impact on the environment or people’s health is expected.
One point that needs attention is the composition
of the mud used during the drilling of wells. Typically where offshore drilling is concerned, a synthetic
drilling fluid is used. The mixing, transport, u ͔