Are subsea oil and gas pipelines a previously unrecognized source of ocean microplastics?
Decommissioning pipelines used by the oil and gas industry could result in substantial quantities of microplastics being released into the UK's marine environment annually, a new study suggests.
A new study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials suggests that decommissioning subsea oil and gas pipelines could release substantial quantities of microplastics into the UK's marine environment annually. Conducted by scientists at the University of Plymouth, the research estimates that nearly 220,000 tonnes of plastics have been deployed in subsea pipeline and umbilical coatings on the UK Continental Shelf, with more than half of those plastics likely to remain in the ocean after decommissioning.
Using modeling approaches, the study suggests that between 4.5 and 500 tonnes of microplastics could be released into the UK North Sea each year, which is more than seven times the annual microbead releases from cosmetics into the North Sea before they were banned in the UK. The research recommends that the environmental consequences of legacy plastics be formally integrated into decommissioning decision-making and planning for new energy-related installations and other marine infrastructure.
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