S.Atlantic : Sartma Daily (20/12/05)
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 21.12.2005 (Article Archived on 28.12.2005)
A brief run-down of South Atlantic news
SARTMA DAILY (20/12/05)
Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
CONTENTS:
Section 1: Article by FINN
BBC Calling the Falklands Articles
Section 2: News from St. Helena
Section 3: Hydrocarbons News
Section 4: Announcements and Adverts
Section 1:
NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT SAYS IMPACT STUDY
By J. Brock (FINN)
RPS Energy has completed their three-year long Environmental Impact Study for offshore drilling in the Falklands. Their client, Desire Petroleum Plc have announced today. The area of assessment not only includes Desire’s tranches, C and D – former Shell tranches – but the shore and near shore areas of the Falklands as well. It was apparent in the draft is a decision to cover only the proposed drilling campaign and not any potential future of oil and gas activities in the Falkland Islands.
The assessment outlines the baseline environment in the areas mentioned that includes seabirds, marine mammals, and fish. It describes the environment as extremely important and sensitive. Importantly the interaction between seabirds, marine mammals and fish was discussed in full with the near shore assessment mentioning danger from pollution.
Operations that would occur in the assessment area are described as drilling with an estimated drill-time per well being 22days. The rig would be semi-submersible and anchors would be used to keep it from drifting.
Water based drilling mud’s would be used with other safety measures being blow up preventers (BUP) and an Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme (OCNS). All formation fluids will be brought to the surface and tested and there will be an oil spill response capability on the supply boats. A service to drilling supply operation will be onshore at Stanley for the duration of the programme and a helicopter service will also be available.
Assessment of impacts were placed into six areas: Emissions to air, emissions to water, waste materials, physical presence, use of resources and socio-economic impacts.
To mitigate the impact to the environment it has been proposed to be open in all aspects of the operation, using best practice and water-based and non toxic chemical usage, There will be a high-level environmental management programme, monitoring and measuring emissions, a dedicated oil-spill response programme, detailed waste management and sharing of environmental data.
The report concludes that while there is high sensitivity and international importance in Falkland Islands waters, drilling operations can be undertaken without significant impact on the environment.
A full report of 180+ pages and a brief synopsis of the report can be found on Desire Petroleum’s website at: http://www.desireplc.co.uk.
RICHARD COCKWELL’S PAINTINGS
A Report for BBC World Service “Calling the Falklands by D. Palmer (DP) 12/16/05
An exhibition of paintings of Falklands landscapes opened in London a few days ago. The artist is Cllr. Richard Cockwell (RC) and the gallery is Falkland House. I went along to the reception, which marked the private viewing and managed to get a few words with Richard. How does it feel, I asked him, to have his first London Exhibition?
RC: I am really quite overwhelmed and honoured to be able to have an exhibition here. I feel quite humble about the whole thing. I am amazed that people quite like my pictures and how well it’s gone. It’s so nice to see so many people here.
DP: They do capture, particularly the wonderful skies of the Falklands.
RC: That’s right and I think that’s really what I try to depict – the sky and the colour in the Falklands. It’s something which a lot of people don’t understand – what beautiful light we have in the Falklands. Most people like to paint Penguins and such like but it’s the landscapes, as far as I am concerned, are things which I really like to depict.
DP: How did you come to take up painting in the first place?
RC: On my 60th birthday I was in England between meetings and I had about 10 days to a fortnight to spend doing something and I thought I would go and take a painting holiday. I was fortunate enough to find David McEwin’s address and I went down to stay with him and this was the result. Admittedly he had badgered me and pushed me and had given me a hard time about it but, bless him, something good has come out of it now.
DP: I did hear that there actually wasn’t an Exhibition in September and you painted everything since then.
RC: There were three of four paintings already done but most of them have been painted since September. But that’s the way I paint. When I start painting I will do two or three in three or four days. Sometimes I do two in a day. Then I might stop for weeks. It depends on how things are going or how busy I am.
DP: Is painting a real relaxation for you in jour job as Councillor?
RC: Yes it is. Surprisingly it’s quite tiring and it creates a lot of tension trying to achieve what you want to achieve. You can’t just slap the paint. But I hope I am getting somewhere towards being a painter which people like. It’s quite good.
DP: Anywhere on the Islands which you particularly like to paint that you haven’t painted yet?
RC: There are so many places to paint in the Falklands. It would take a long time before I could visit them, I am sure. I don’t think you could ever finish painting landscapes in the Falklands. I want to particularly get out to Port Luis, Pebble Island, There are just too many places to name. I was on Bleaker a few weeks ago and want to paint some pictures. Everywhere I go I want to paint.
DP: I’ll tell you something, Richard, when you do get to Pebble, I’d like first refusal on a Painting of that wonderful, long, white beach there.
RC: You are the second person to say that but I will have to do two and you can have that first refusal on one of them.
DP: As I left Falkland House, the Conservative MP, Cheryl Gillen, who visited the Falklands a few years ago was trying to decide which of the paintings to buy. Her choice was slightly limited as, by then, several of the pictures already had a “Sold” sign on them.
POLAR MEDAL FOR BAS SCIENTIST
A Report for BBC World Service “Calling the Falklands” by Dee Palmer (DP) 16 December2005
The Falklands will have to deal with the affects of the Antarctic Ozone hole for quite a bit longer than originally thought. That’s the message from the latest research from a group of US and Canadian scientists. They say that the Ozone Hole needs more time to repair itself and the atmosphere won’t be completely back to normal over Antarctica at 2065. I have been speaking to Jonathan Shanklin (JS), the Ozone expert at British Antarctic Survey. And, I asked him why the American scientists are being so pessimistic?
JS: These researchers have done measurements of the levels of the Ozone depleting substances in the atmosphere. And, they have shown that they were a bit higher than expected. And, this ties in with measurements that NOAA have been doing and we..
DP: NOAA being National Atmospheric and Atmospheric Administration in the United States.
JS: That’s right and we actually do measurements for them at our Halley Station, while we take measurements of air from close to the ground in stainless steel flasks ad they are sent back to the US for measurement. And these as well show that while things are improving – there’s no doubt about that – for although some of the Ozone depleting substances. The rate of decline is much slower than had been expected.
DP: So they are not being alarmist?
JS: They are just saying this is what the observations show – that these chemicals are definitely still there. The measurements also show that things are improving but quite slowly. And, most of the improvement is actually due to decreases in things called methal-chloroform and methal-bromide. And, these are substances where the phase-out has been much more rapid and they have fairly short lifetimes so, not surprisingly, quite rapidly. Other things, like some of the CFCs are very, very stable and have lifetimes of 100 years or more. And, although they are clearly not going up any more, their rate of decline is very small.
DP: Why is that?
JS: There are two reasons. The developed world has essentially phased them out and we are not making them any more for home consumption. The developing world was given an extra 10 years so they could keep producing them compared to everybody else and their phase-out has only just started. They are cutting back quite dramatically and they only have a little time left before they have to stop using them. The other reason is that there is quite a large reservoir of all these CFCs from the old abandoned fridges the air conditioning systems and so on, which slowly leaks out into the atmosphere. This is where we made the material and it just slowly trickles out. Taking those two together, it has meant that we are on a level straight at the moment. It will begin to go down over the next decade or so.
DP: But can we accept any more huge Ozone holes like the record-breaking one like we had this year?
JS: We certainly can. All it needs is a cold Antarctic winter and perhaps combine that with a big volcanic eruption and yes we definitely will have a record size Ozone hole. That means the Falkland Islands are likely affected perhaps for slightly longer periods in the next decade or two than they have been in the last decade or two.
DP: So, Keep stocking up on the sun block.
JS: I think it’s going to be very important for the September, October, November period to listen to the warnings about when the Ozone Hole is over the Islands and to put on sun block at those times.
DP: Dr. Jonathan Shanklin of BAS has just heard that he’s been awarded the Polar Medal. This is an award, which is presented by the reigning Monarch to people who have made significant contributions to the exploration or the understanding of the Polar Regions. Jonathan will receive his medal at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace sometime next year.
Section 2:
NEWS FROM ST. HELENA
CABLE & WIRELESS ASCENSION AND ST. HELENA
Cable & Wireless St. Helena wishes to advise customers that no further installations can be carried out until the New Year. Cable & Wireless Ascension Island and St. Helena wish to advise customers that the last day for delivery of telegrams before Christmas will be Wednesday, 21 December 2005. And, Cable & Wireless Ascension Island, Falkland Islands and St. Helena wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2006.
CHRISTMAS CRUISE TO CAPETOWN - ONLY £170
SHG is offering a one way Christmas Cruise from St Helena to Cape Town. This one-off special offer is priced at £170 per person.
Interested persons will have to make their own travel arrangements for return or onward journeys from South Africa. Passengers will depart St Helena on Thursday, 22 December 2005 and arrive in Cape Town on 28 December 2005 having the opportunity to experience Christmas at sea.
Bookings for this offer can be made through the Solomon’s shipping agents on telephone number 2523 by no later than 10am on Tuesday, 20th December.
Sharon Wainwright
Access Project Manager
PRESS NOTICE RE ORDER FOR DISPOSAL OF JEREMY THOMAS
HE Governor Clancy today made an order for, what is termed, the disposal of Mr Jeremy Thomas. He will remain in the prison in Jamestown and will have treatment for his mental disability, which will be coordinated at a distance by a qualified and suitably experienced psychiatrist.
Mr Jeremy Thomas will be detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure – that is for an indefinite period. He will be assessed regularly with regard to his condition and state of mind until such time as he is fit to stand trial or is released by further order of the Governor under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance.
The public solicitor, who defended Mr Jeremy Thomas has been informed as has the mother of the victim, Mr Ryan Thomas. The background is that Mr Jeremy Thomas in May this year was found unfit to plead to the charge of murder of Mr Ryan Thomas but in a hearing rather than a trial the Chief Justice concluded that he was physically involved in causing the death of Ryan Thomas. In these circumstances the legislation required the Governor to determine the appropriate action under sub section 122(5) of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance. HE Governor Clancy was not empowered to send
Mr Jeremy Thomas, without his consent, for treatment outside St Helena in these circumstances. The regime for Mr Jeremy Thomas will include education, counselling, social work input and vocational training.
HYDROCARBONS NEWS
Desire Petroleum PLC
19 December 2005
Desire Petroleum plc (Desire)
Drilling Update
Desire is pleased to announce that the Environmental Impact Assessment, required for drilling in Tranches C and D in the North Falkland Basin, has been submitted for approval to the Falkland Islands Government. The full documentation will be posted on the Desire website.
In order to increase the flexibility of the drilling programme, a detailed analysis of the shallow 3D seismic data, for site- survey purposes, at nine drilling locations, within Tranches C and D in the North Falkland Basin, has been submitted for comment to the Health and Safety Executive (acting for the Falkland Islands Government (FIG)).
In addition, and in response to long lead times for the supply of drilling equipment, Desire has decided to order now, all of the casing needed to fulfil a three-well drilling programme. When received, this casing will be stored in Aberdeen ready for the drilling programme.
Work is now well advanced on all of the fronts necessary to commence drilling as soon as the rig market allows and Desire will continue to review both its drilling programme and well design in order to meet changing circumstances when a suitable rig does become available.
At the recent conference in London on Commercial and Technical Strategies for Managing Exploratory Risk in Frontier Regions Ian Cross, Vice-President of HIS Energy presented a paper entitled ' What can we really expect from unexplored areas?- Global elephant hunting. '
In this paper he highlighted the significant exploration wells to be drilled in the World in the next 18 months i.e. wells with the potential to find a major field with 250 million barrels or more of recoverable oil. In this category he included Desire's wells to be drilled in the North Falkland Basin. He also noted that there are very few areas in the World where oil fields of this size can now be found with discovery levels now back at the levels last seen in the 1950s.
IHS is a leading global provider of consultancy services and technical information to the oil and gas industry and as such are well placed to provide a global overview of the oil exploration scene.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ADVERTS:
The Stanley Leisure Center will be having a “Santa’s Grotto” 0n Friday, 23 December 2005 from 1300 to 1600. All ages are welcome but under 5s must be accompanied by an adult. The entrance fee is £5.00 per child. You can book your place by calling the Stanley Leisure Centre on 27291 or you can e-mail krozee.leisure@sec.gov.fk.
Standard Chartered Bank would like to advise all customers that the following arrangements will apply in relation to the Christmas and New Year period: Friday, 23 December 2005, Closing at 1300hrs, Monday, 26 December 2005, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, Wednesday, 28 December 2005, Closed, Thursday, 29 December 2005, usual working hours, Friday, 30 December 2005, closing at 1200hrs, Monday, 02 January 2006, Closed. Normal Business hours will resume on Tuesday, 03 January 2006.
There will be an extraordinary meeting of the Royal British Legion on Monday, 19 December 2005 at 2000hrs at Hillside Mess. All Members are urged to attend. For further details, please contact Bruce Wilkes after hours on 22438.
The Stanley Leisure Centre would like to remind customers that the pool will be open to adults on Tuesday between 2000 and 2100. And, on Thursdays the pool will be closed for private hire between 1900 and 2000.
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; F
|
