By: Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, June 9, 2022
The exploration process will be carried out 350 km from the city of Mar de Plata, in Argentina, at a depth of 1500 meters, however, there will be no “explosions”, since a high-tech ship will map the seabed to identify where there could be oil.
The process has already been done in a nearby area, with no impact on wildlife. If it prospers, the industry could bear its first fruits in 2027, with the potential to completely transform the productive matrix of the entire region.
These are two independent processes. The first is seismic exploration, which will allow us to obtain valuable information on where it is possible to drill and find oil, something that has already been authorized by the national government, which does not imply drilling, carried out in other parts of the area – without Mar del Plata being find out – and that it would have already begun if it were not for the judicialization of the issue.
The second point, which does not depend on the first, is the exploratory well, which implies the drilling of a well from which only information will be obtained, not oil, and which will require an environmental impact study -already in process- and another public hearing. . The seismic of this well has already been carried out by YPF. It is a process that does not depend on the first point.
Today, attention is focused on the first point. It is the one that has been prosecuted and that motorized a public hearing in the Deliberative Council.
Seismic or oil exploration will make it possible to trace where there might be oil. It is used in the offshore industry but also, for example, to place wind generators in the sea, and it does not imply placing a tower in the sea, as has been shown in the media.
The work is carried out by a ship specialized in the matter capable of pulling or dragging a series of “hoses” of one kilometer each, called “streamers”. These have microphones that work in the water (hydrophones). On board there will be a team of experts in this task and marine biologists.
Now, the ship sails in the same direction for 50 kilometers (returns and repeats the process on another line) with eight streamers separated by 200 meters. At the back it consists of an arrangement of “air cannons” that make up a chamber that receives air at 2,000 pounds of pressure and releases it, which creates a sound wave that travels to the bottom of the sea and, according to the layers rocks it encounters, it bounces back.
The hydrophones pick up and record the ricochets. Little by little (the process takes two months), this record generates a “map” of the seabed.
In this whole process there is no perforation. Exploration has been improving, based on experience and technological advances. While decades ago the work was rougher and more risky, and even sharks bit the streamers because they were full of oil, today the “hoses” are solid and therefore do not release fluids, but the sound impact on the environment is also limited.
Seismic acquisition, it is worth noting, is essential to indicate where it is feasible to search for oil. The process generates a “map” with unevenness and irregularities in the seabed, which allow us to see where drilling could be done.
The exploratory well that is initially planned to be drilled in the coming months 350 kilometers from the Mar del Plata coast, is not based on the seismic exploration described above, but the exploration was already done years ago by YPF and other companies, without major impacts. in the fauna and with positive results.
The entire process is carried out from a drilling ship, without anchors, with a dynamic positioning system and about 200 people on board. In addition, an underwater robot (ROV) is used.
Considering the possibility that the well yields positive results, as expected -that is, that it preserves significant amounts of oil-, a year and a half after the exploratory drilling, the delineator wells would begin to be drilled to delimit the limits of the deposit. Its dimension, today, is not exactly calculated, but it could be very wide.
Once the deposit has been delimited, the development plan will be launched, which will initially begin with six production wells and another two water injection wells (the oil is extracted with water, but this is cleaned, purified and reintroduced to the reservoir).
This is not a refinery, but a facility that will take and store water, oil and gas. From there, it will load the resources to other ships through hoses, each connected to a production well at the bottom of the sea.
This material from the RunRunEnergy Portal was edited for clarity, style and length.
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