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Light Pollution

Matabiri

Graduate Poster
Matabiri
Joined
Oct 1, 2003
Messages
1,732
Worldwide maps

Spot the gas flares over the North Sea:
fig4.jpg
 
tracer said:
Gas flares?
Click to expand...

Burning off immense quantities of natural gas from oil wells, raising the CO2 level and not using the energy in the gas at all.

This happened a lot in the USA while the gas industry was regulated, it was cheaper to burn it off than it was to actually treat it and pipe it to customers.

Truly appalling
 
Well, look on the bright side: If that natural gas had been released into the atmosphere without burning it, it would be a far more potent greenhouse gas.
 
Much of the gas flared off in oil & gas production is not hydrocarbons: It's a mix of hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and (surprise! CO2), which you really don't want in your car. Or your pipeline.
The flaring of hydrocarbon gases still does happen, often to burn off the H2S. Yes, it is a waste. In general though, where the gas is economically worth saving, it will be. Energy companies would rather sell gas than flare it. Big improvements have been made in this department over the years. Natural gas often powers the platforms which produce oil. Some of the gas is reinjected to the reservoir to maintain pressure. Flares are also emergency safety valves.

I'm curious- how old is the photo, and what is it actually showing? It looks to me like false colour IR, but it is titled "light pollution"

Gas and oil production platforms (There are few actual "drilling rigs" in the north sea nowadays.) do have a lot of electric lights and generators, which will show up on IR along with flares.
 
Soapy Sam said:
I'm curious- how old is the photo, and what is it actually showing? It looks to me like false colour IR, but it is titled "light pollution"
Click to expand...

How the maps were produced is described in the link. It is supposed to be "artificial night sky brightness", so electric lights will show up, of course.


Gas and oil production platforms (There are few actual "drilling rigs" in the north sea nowadays.) do have a lot of electric lights and generators, which will show up on IR along with flares.
Click to expand...

They still do a reasonable amount of drilling from production platforms as they continue to develop the fields. Those things can have upwards of 40 wells coming off them.
 
"They still do a reasonable amount of drilling from production platforms as they continue to develop the fields. Those things can have upwards of 40 wells coming off them."

True. I'm being pedantic. I spend much of my life on drilling rigs, while avoiding production platforms like the plague.
 
Soapy Sam said:
"They still do a reasonable amount of drilling from production platforms as they continue to develop the fields. Those things can have upwards of 40 wells coming off them."

True. I'm being pedantic. I spend much of my life on drilling rigs, while avoiding production platforms like the plague.
Click to expand...

I spent a year working on drilling rigs, being continually told how much more luxurious production facilities were. But then these were drilling rigs offshore West Africa, as opposed to production platforms in the North Sea, it might not have been a fair comparison...
 
Depends if you were on a swamp barge or a true offshore jackup or semi. The real big rigs are much the same everywhere, depending on their age.
My gripe with platforms is the paperwork & admin which has reached the stage where you need a signed permit to go to the toilet.
 
No swamp barges. Mostly semi-subs. Here's a drillship, though. That was quite cramped.
 
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