Marine energy research at SAMS

This page is under development

This page is under development

We have been extracting oil and gas from the marine environment for over a century and many man-made structures such as oil platforms and pipelines are coming to the end of their use.

Removing these structures from the marine environment is a major undertaking with a substantial range of environmental effects. There are cumulative effects and trade-offs with other users of the sea to consider too.

Current/recent research projects

• >Pipefish and CA-Pipefish: an extension of Pipefish that incorporates information on the risk of different pipeline decommissioning scenarios to marine species / features of conservation insterst with data on the potential risk to commercial fishers. Funded by NERC
• >3D Marg: Feasibility study to develop methods to use 3D photogrammetry with standard industry ROV to obtain estimate of marine growth mass, volume and surface roughness to inform engineering decision and decommissioning lifting operations. Funded by NERC
• >STREAM
• >Artificial reef creation using decommissioned mattresses - environmental performace and fisheries enhancement potential in the North Sea. A PhD project funded by ESF. 2017-2020
• >Optimising the decommissioning of concrete mattresses and support of structures in the North Sea. A PhD project funded by ESF and SFC. 2017-2020.

Previous projects

• >Environmental enhancement through decommissioning in the Brent Field
• >Artificial reef construction for environmental enhancement in oil and gas platform decommissioning

SAMS has delivered a range of commercial projects for the nuclear energy industry through our consultancy SRSL.

Dounreay Offshore Environmental Baseline Survey

Potential impacts of power station development and operation on sensitive intertidal species and habitats - chlorine...

Series of projects associatd with the British Energy Estuarine Marine Studies programme with EDF Energy (Kim Last)