PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Members of the public in the Southern Cape are being informed about a new application to conduct ocean floor surveys between Mossel Bay and Cape St Francis, in what is known as the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas fields.
A number of public open days are being held during March as part of the Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) conducted by independent environmental consultants SLR.
Open days were held from 10 to 18 March along the Garden Route.
Pipeline plan
The surveys will be conducted in the area generally known as the Brulpadda and Luiperd wells, 80km offshore, to assess the feasibility of running a pipeline from about 1 700m deep to PetroSA's FA production platform near Mossel Bay, which stands in 105m of water.
Main Street 1549 (Pty) Ltd (Main Street) is now the the sole applicant of the EA application and "proposes to initially conduct a downscaled and largely non-intrusive survey campaign along the potential production sites and pipeline routes from the deep-water field areas in Block 11B/12B onto the shelf and into the adjacent Block 9 (Block 9 is held by PetroSA)".
'Largely non-intrusive'
This follows the withdrawal of TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and Canadian Natural Resources from the Brulpadda project.
According to SLR "the findings of this survey will provide essential data that inform the design and layout of the subsea production facilities and associated infrastructure".
SLR says the surveys are a "largely non-intrusive surveys" along the potential production sites and pipeline routes from the deep-water field areas.
Survey activities
The current application will be for "low key" survey activities and is an early step towards determining the feasibility of the project to run a pipeline from Brulpadda to the FA production platform of PetroSA off Mossel Bay, according to Sue Reuther, an environmental assessment practitioner.
Reuther said the survey activities include a number of aspects:
- Bathymetary and sonar sampling (mapping the sea floor contours to see whether a pipeline can be placed from Brulpadda to the FA platform). It will sample the sea floor by using grab sampling and coring methods to collect sediment from the ocean floor;
- Metocean surveys (placing buoys on the sea floor to collect data about the marine environment like weather and ocean conditions);
- Using a ROV - unmanned submarine - (with on-board cameras and sonar to take pictures and videos of the sea floor). It provides information about underwater ecological sensitivities and hazards.
SLR's contact details:email: 11b12bsurveys@slrconsulting.com
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