A groundbreaking report has ranked the most damaging fossil fuel production infrastructure on the planet.
Conducted by SkyTruth, the analysis looks at offshore oil an gas facilities. Using satellite technology, persistent oil slicks, greenhouse gas emissions, and methane flaring have all been taken into account in a map of previously overlooked and undetected environmental destruction.
The assessment – Exposing the Environmental Costs of Offshore Oil: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Oil Slicks and Flaring – has identified chronic issues linked to oil pollution, with 10 offshore sites alone responsible for discharging 5,100 barrels of oil into the ocean. Geographic hotspots were also identified, with West Africa, and Nigeria in particular, home to five-in-10 of the worst performers. The United Kingdom, Norway, Angola, and the United Arab Emirates also ranked badly, with multiple facilities in each country flagged for poor environmental records.
Floating production and storage vessels [FxOs] were found to present much higher risks to ecosystems, and four-in-10 of the most polluting assets globally fell into this category. In terms of methane flaring, 23billion cubic metres of the gas was burnt off in 2023, leading to 60million metric tonnes of CO2. Iran, Nigeria and Morocco were responsible for the highest levels. Vessels also added to the overall impact, with traffic to and from offshore sites producing 9million metric tonnes of CO2 in 2023. This is a larger footprint than many small countries.
‘Our research demonstrates that policymakers must account for the substantial site-specific pollution burden imposed by offshore fossil fuel development,’ the report states. ‘FxOs and other infrastructure are causing significant local contamination globally, with demonstrable impacts on marine ecosystems and significant risks for food security, public health, and coastal economies.’
Image: Maria Lupan / Unsplash
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