AUTHOR=Schläppy Marie-Lise , Robinson Lucy M. , Camilieri-Asch Victoria , Miller Karen 

TITLE=Trash or Treasure? Considerations for Future Ecological Research to Inform Oil and Gas Decommissioning

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.642539

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2021.642539

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=Numerous oil and gas installations worldwide will need to be decommissioned in the near future. Complete removal of subsea structures is often the default approach although some regions retain structures under rigs-to-reefs programs. Here, we reviewed the published literature to understand the status of global research on decommissioning, and to specifically identify gaps in ecological knowledge. In statistically analyzing the frequency of different research categories (i.e. themes, and spatial/temporal scales categories), we tested the assumption that the number of papers across the categories of each research aspect would be even in distribution.  However, the frequency of studies focusing on biodiversity at a local (≤ 100km) scale (relative to regional and oceanic and pan-oceanic scales) were significantly higher, and all other theme categories (e.g. eco-toxicology, connectivity, structural-integrity, restoration and other) were significantly lower than expected. Temporally, ≤ 1-year studies were more frequent than multi-year studies, but these frequencies did not significantly deviate from the assumed distribution of equal frequencies. We propose that further research be carried out to evaluate the benefits of both retention and removal of structures. Ecological research on decommissioning should extends its focus beyond biodiversity to include eco-toxicology, structural-integrity, connectivity at larger spatial and temporal scales. This would provide a more holistic assessment of ecological impacts to inform sustainable and equitable development choices in multiple Blue Economy sectors, as we transition from offshore oil and gas to marine renewables.