Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil Production: The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study

452 Pages·1981·17.661 MB·English

by  Brian S. Middleditch, Benny J. Gallaway (auth.), Brian S. Middleditch (eds.)

Environmental
Effects of Offshore
Oil Production
THE BUCCANEER GAS
AND OIL FIELD STUDY
MARINE SCIENCE
Coordinating Editor: Ronald J. Gibbs, University of Delaware
Recent Volumes:
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Edited by Marshall D. Earle and Alexander Malahoff
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Edited by Bostwick H. Ketchum, Dana R. Kester, and P. Kilho Park
Volume 13 -Oceano.ttraphy From Space
Edited byJ. F. R. Gower
Volume 14 -Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil Production:
The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study
Edited by Brian S. Middleditch
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Environmental
Effects of Offshore
Oil Production
THE BUCCANEER GAS
AND OIL FIELD STUDY
Edited by
Brian S. Middleditch
University of Houston
Houston, Texas
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
CENTRAL
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Environmental effects of offshore oil production.
(Marine science; 14)
"Proceedings of a symposium on the buccaneer gas and oil field study, held
October 8·9,1980, during Expochem '80 in Houston, Texas" - T.p. verso.
Sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency et al.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Oil well drilling, Submarine - Environmental aspects - Mexico, Gulf of
Congresses. I. Middleditch, Brian S. II. Expochem '80 (1980: Houston, Tex.)
III. United States. Environmental Protection Agency. IV. Series.
TD195.P4E55 333.91'7'097641 81-11934
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1112-6 AACR2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1112-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1110-2
001: 10.1007/978-1-4684-1110-2
Proceedings of a symposium on The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field
Study, held October 8-9, 1980, during EXPOCHEM '80 in Houston, Texas
© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 1981
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming.
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher
PREFACE
The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study has been the most
comprehensive research project to date concerned with assessing
the ecological effects of offshore production activities. It took
nearly five years to complete and involved almost 30 individual
research groups. All of the raw data have been archived with
NOAA's Environmental Data and Information Services, and detailed
technical reports have been deposited with the National Technical
Information Service so the interested investigator should be able
to gain access to them. However, we felt that it would be
desirable to present a distillation of our more significant
findings in a form that was more readily available to the
scientific and lay community. Thus, we conducted a symposium. on
the study during EXPOCHEM '80 at the Astrohall, Houston, Texas
during October, 1980. This volume comprises the proceedings of
that symposium.
All but two of the papers presented are included in this
book. Manuscripts were not received from Dr. D. A. Wiesenburg
(Texas A&M University: Volatile Hydrocarbons) or Dr. J. Tillery
(Southwest Research Institute: Trace Metals), but these topics are
adequately covered by other authors. An introductory chapter was
added to place the study in its proper perspective and to provide
some background material on the Buccaneer Field, a brief chapter
on biocides was inserted since this topic generated much dis
cussion at the symposium, and a bibliography is provided to direct
the interested reader to sources of additional published infor
mation on the Study.
Each of the authors was encouraged to avoid the rather dry
format characteristic of a technical report and most have
succeeded. We hope that our book will appeal to a wider reader
ship than the technical reports that are normally produced
following studies of this type.
Several of the administrative and support personnel involved
in this study are not given adequate recognition elsewhere in the
book, and it is appropriate to acknowledge their contributions
v
vi PREFACE
here. Dr. Joseph W. Angelovic, formerly the Director of the NMFS
Gulf Coastal Fisheries Center, Galveston, Texas was instrumental
in initiating involvement of the Galveston Laboratory in environ
mental impact research through Interagency Agreements with other
federal agencies. The first project, through Interagency
Agreement with the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land
Management, involved fisheries investigations associated with the
South Texas Outer Continental Shelf. The second was the study of
the Buccaneer Field, supported by Interagency Agreement with the
Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Angelovic is currently
Deputy Director of NOAA's Ocean Programs Office in Washington,
D.C., which provided the NOAA program overview of the Buccaneer
Gas and Oil Field Study, with Mr. W. Lawrence Pugh as Program
Manager. The EPA Program Manager was Dr. Alfred A. Galli of EPA's
Office of Energy, Minerals, and Industry in Washington, D.C. Mr.
John T. Hinman, Ms. Joan Blaylock Sylvester and Mr. Joseph L. Gray
of the NMFS Southeast Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida
were Contracting Officers for the Study.
When the project first began, Dr. Angelovic was the Contrac
ting Officer's Technical Representative and Dr. Richard Berry the
Project Manager at the NMFS Galveston Laboratory. When Dr.
Angelovic left for Washington, the former task was passed to Dr.
Berry, and Dr. Ernest D. McRae (now deceased) became Project
Manager. Early in 1977, Dr. Edward F. Klima was appointed as
Director of the Galveston Laboratory and assumed the role of
Contracting Officer's Technical Representative. At that time, Dr.
Charles W. Caillouet became Chief of the Galveston Laboratory's
Environmental Research Division and Project Manager of the
Study. It was Dr. Klima and Dr. Caillouet who were most directly
responsible for the transition from a multidisciplinary survey to
the interdisciplinary study that the project became.
Mr. William B. Jackson (Senior Advisor, Contracts and
Deliverables) of the Galveston Laboratory was the Report Editor
during most of the Study. Mr. Gregg R. Gitschlag was Acting
Senior Advisor, Field Operations and Logistics. Other members of
the technical staff at the Galveston Laboratory who participated
in the project were Dr. Robert M. Avent (Oceanographer, Field
Party Chief), Mr. E. Peter Wilkens (Fishery Biologist), Mr. Gary
Faw (Fishery Biologist), Mr. Dennis Koi (Computer Programmer), and
Ms. Leesa M. Young (Biological Aid).
Mr. John A. Burgbacher of Shell Oil Company's Offshore
Division in New Orleans, Louisiana deserves special mention for
providing information about operations in the Buccaneer Field,
arranging for access to the structures to be granted, and
providing helicopter transportation on many occasions. Other
Shell employees in the Field were equally cooperative.
PREFACE vii
We are also indebted to Dr. Albert Zlatkis of the University
of Houston for allowing us to hold our symposium as a component of
EXPOCHEM '80.
The prompt publication of these proceedings was achieved with
the cooperation of the authors and the able assistance of Mr.
James Busis of Plenum.
Brian S. Middleditch
University of Houston
DISCLAIMER
The Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field Study was sponsored by the
Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Commerce,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine
Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Center, Galveston Labora
tory under Interagency Agreement EPA-IAG-DS-E693-EO. The contents
of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and
policies of the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department
of Commerce. Mention of trade names or commercial products herein
does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
viii
CONTRIBUTORS
JOHN B. ANDERSON, Geology Department, Rice University, Houston,
Texas 77001.
REED S. ArulSTRONG, Atlantic Environmental Group, National Marine
Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administ
ration, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882.
GLENN D. AUMANN, Department of Biology, University of Houston,
Houston, Texas 77004.
E. WILLIAM BEHRENS, University of Texas Marine Science Institute,
700 The Strand, Galveston, Texas 77550.
GREGORY S. BOLAND, LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., 1410
Cavitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77801.
JAMES M. BROOKS, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas 77843.
JACK CALMAN, Environmental Research and Technology, Inc., 1111
Third Avenue, Suite 2770, Seattle, Washington 98101. Present
address: Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Univer
sity, Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20810.
ROBERT J. CASE, Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311, Fort
Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
LARRY J. DANEK, Hazleton Environmental Sciences, 1500 Frontage
Road, Northbrook, Illinois 60062. Present address: Environ
mental Science and Engineering, Inc., P.O. Box ESE, Gaines
ville, Florida 32602.
GEORGE D. DENNIS, LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., 1410
Cavitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77801.
ERNIE L. ESTES, Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M Univer
sity, Galveston, Texas 77843.
NICK FOTHERINGHAM, Department of Biology, University of Houston,
Houston, Texas 77004. Present address: Dames & Moore, 4321
Directors Row, Houston, Texas 77092.
KENNETH W. FUCIK, Science Applications, Inc., 2760 29th Street,
Boulder, Colorado 80301.
BENNY J. GALLAWAY, LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., 1410
Cavitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77801.
DONALD E. HARPER, JR., Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311,
Fort Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
ix
x CONTRIBUTORS
RICHARD P. HERBST, Environmental Research and Technology, Inc.,
1111 Third Avenue, Suite 2770, Seattle, Washington 98101.
Present address: Regulatory Affairs Department, Exxon
Minerals Co., P.O. Box 2180, Houston, Texas 77001.
RANDALL L. HOWARD, LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., 1410
Cavitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77801.
CHI-HSIN HSU, Department of Biology, University of Houston,
Houston, Texas 77004.
REBECCA L. JASCHEK, Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311,
Fort Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
LARRY R. MARTIN, LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc., 1410
Cavitt Street, Bryan, Texas 77801.
BRIAN S. MIDDLEDITCH, Department of Biophysical Sciences,
University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77004.
KURT D. OLSEN, Department of Biology, University of Houston,
Houston, Texas 77004.
DEBORAH L. POTTS, Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311, Fort
Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
CURT D. ROSE, Environmental Sciences Division, Energy Resources
Company, Inc. , 185 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138.
ROBERT R. SALZER, Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311, Fort
Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
CLAUDE R. SCHWAB, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M Univer
sity, College Station, Texas 77843.
RUDOLPH R. SCHWARZER, Chemistry Department, Texas Southern
University, Houston, Texas 77004.
ROBERT F. SHOKES, Science Applications, Inc., 1200 Prospect
Street, La Jolla, California 92038.
IVAN T. SHOW, Science Applications, Inc., 476 Prospect Street, La
Jolla, California 92038.
RONALD K. SIZEMORE, Department of Biology, University of Houston,
Houston, Texas 77004.
GERALD W. SMEDES, Environmental Research and Technology, Inc.,
1111 Third Avenue, Suite 2770, Seattle, Washington 98101.
MICHAEL S. TOMLINSON, Hazleton Environmental Sciences, 1500
Frontage Road, Northbrook, Illinois 60062. Present address:
Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc., P.O. Box ESE,
Gainesville, Florida 32602.
CONSTANCE M. WALKER, Texas A&M Marine Laboratory, Building 311,
Fort Crockett, Galveston, Texas 77550.
TIMOTHY J. WARD, Environmental Sciences Division, Energy Resources
Company, Inc. , 185 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02138.
RICHARD B. WHEELER, Geology Department, Rice University, Houston,
Texas 77001. Present address: Exxon Production Research
Company, Houston, Texas 77005.
DENIS A. WIESENBURG, Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas 77843.