Long-Term Monitoring and Research in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

The widely recognized need for large-scale transition from fossil to renewable energy sources has led to renewed effort to obtain metals needed for battery-based electric transportation and other functions. A potential source of some of these metals is the deposits of polymetallic nodules on the deep seafloor. If mining of these deposits proceeds in the coming decade, the enterprise creates an opportunity for extensive, long-term oceanographic research in the mining locations. The need to monitor environmental effects of mining activity can best be met with a near-continuous presence of a research platform in the vicinity. The platform could be a ship or potentially a semi-submersible platform like those used in the offshore oil industry. Such a facility might be supported by a consortium of mining companies and also provide opportunities for academic research in ocean and climate science.

Saturation diver fatality due to hydrogen sulphide while working on a subsea pipe line

In the offshore oil industry, Multipurpose Support Vessels with extensive diving capability are used for inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea pipelines. The diving industry has developed systemic safety checks and strict regulatory control after a number of fatal accidents in early years. However, accidents do continue to occur and, when involving divers in the water, are often fatal. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), called ‘sour gas’ in an oil field, is produced by the action of anaerobic bacteria on sulphate containing organic matter. A highly toxic gas, it remains a constant danger for offshore oil industry workers who must remain vigilant. Crude oil and gas produced in these oilfields is called ‘sour crude’ and pipelines carry this crude with varying content of dissolved H2S to shore for processing. Divers are routinely called to attend to leaking pipelines and come in contact with this crude. Their hot water suits and umbilical lines are often covered with crude containing dissolved H2S. There is always a possibility that these may enter and contaminate the bell environment. Such a case leading to fatality is reported here.

Saturation diver fatality due to hydrogen sulphide while working on a subsea pipe line

In the offshore oil industry, Multipurpose Support Vessels with extensive diving capability are used for inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea pipelines. The diving industry has developed systemic safety checks and strict regulatory control after a number of fatal accidents in early years. However, accidents do continue to occur and, when involving divers in the water, are often fatal. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), called ‘sour gas’ in an oil field, is produced by the action of anaerobic bacteria on sulphate containing organic matter. A highly toxic gas, it remains a constant danger for offshore oil industry workers who must remain vigilant. Crude oil and gas produced in these oilfields is called ‘sour crude’ and pipelines carry this crude with varying content of dissolved H2S to shore for processing. Divers are routinely called to attend to leaking pipelines and come in contact with this crude. Their hot water suits and umbilical lines are often covered with crude containing dissolved H2S. There is always a possibility that these may enter and contaminate the bell environment. Such a case leading to fatality is reported here.

Corporate and Worker Photographs of the Offshore Oil Industry: The Case of the Ocean Ranger

Images of hydrocarbon extraction at sea remain strikingly circumscribed. The most extensively circulated are either the work of professional industrial photographers employed by oil companies to take carefully vetted promotional shots, or of news photographers commissioned to document catastrophes. Corporate-sponsored photography enforces the massive scale of offshore rigs, their technological sophistication, and apparent ability to withstand the vicissitudes of the ocean; it also tends to imply that companies adhere to strict safety regimens, and equal opportunity hiring practices. Photographs created by offshore oil workers are not widely circulated in the public domain. However, three collections of images recently donated to Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial archives offer new viewpoints on the oil industry. Lance Butler, David Boutcher, and Lloyd Major were all employed on the Ocean Ranger platform, which capsized off the coast of Newfoundland in 1982 with the loss of 84 lives–including Boutcher’s. The men’s images resituate, expand upon, and on occasions challenge tropes that predominate in corporate photography; the striking arrangement of David Boutcher’s snapshots in album format by his mother is also salutary. This essay argues for the necessity of “onshoring” the offshore, and claims that workers’ photographs can potentially help us do so through a variety of means.