The distribution of metal and petroleum-derived contaminants within sediments around oil and gas infrastructure in the Gippsland Basin, Australia.

Autor: Hook SE; CSIRO Environment, TAS, Australia. Electronic address: Sharon.Hook@csiro.au., Foster S; CSIRO Data61, Hobart, TAS, Australia., Althaus F; CSIRO Environment, TAS, Australia., Bearham D; CSIRO Environment, Crawley, Perth, WA, Australia., Angel BM; CSIRO Environment, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia., Revill AT; CSIRO Environment, TAS, Australia., Simpson SL; CSIRO Environment, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia., Strzelecki J; CSIRO Environment, Crawley, Perth, WA, Australia., Cresswell T; Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia., Hayes KR; CSIRO Data61, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2023 Aug; Vol. 193, pp. 115196. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 06.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115196
Abstrakt: As oil and gas infrastructure comes to the end of its working life, a decommissioning decision must be made: should the infrastructure be abandoned in situ, repurposed, partially removed, or fully removed? Environmental contaminants around oil and gas infrastructure could influence these decisions because contaminants in sediments could degrade the value of the infrastructure as habitat, enter the seafood supply if the area is re-opened for commercial and/or recreational fishing, or be made biologically available as sediment is resuspended when the structures are moved. An initial risk hypothesis, however, may postulate that these concerns are only relevant if contaminant concentrations are above screening values that predict the possibility of environmental harm or contaminant bioaccumulation. To determine whether a substantive contaminants-based risk assessment is needed for infrastructure in the Gippsland Basin (South-eastern Australia), we measured the concentration of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in benthic sediments collected around eight platforms earmarked for decommissioning. The measurements were compared to preset screening values and to background contaminant concentrations in reference sites. Lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), PAHs and other contaminants were occasionally measured at concentrations that exceeded reference values, most often within 150 m of the platforms. The exceedance of a few screening values by contaminants at some platforms indicates that these platforms require further analysis to determine the contaminant risks associated with any decommissioning option.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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