In early May MMOA Committee Member Patrick Lyne attended the All Energy Exhibition in Glasgow. Prior to the exhibition Patrick presented at a workshop on low visibility detection for mitigation, organized by SMRU Consulting with representatives from Gardline, PGS and Fugro as well as the presenters. Presentations were heard from Phil Johnston (Seiche) on Infra Red systems, Remote PAM and using linked PAM systems on wide azimuth surveys as well as unmanned surface vehicles. Patrick (IWDG/MMOA) discussed soft start, the mitigation gun as well as PAM and Infra Red systems, Philippe Hubert (Prove Systems) covered underwater Infra Red, and Richard Adams (CodaOctopus) discussed multi-beam use for detection.Following presentations an information gathering session began where all known low visibility monitoring methods were listed along with suppliers. How these systems might be evaluated for detection and mitigation was also discussed. The eventual aim is to report and publish a paper by the autumn of 2016 on Low Visibility Detection Methods and their viability for oil and gas mitigation.
At the exhibition the following morning Patrick had some interesting discussions on drilling noise with Bill Shaw of Bauer Renewables.It was good to hear how aware many in the industry are of the issue of anthropogenic noise. Shawna Eason, representing the provincial government of Nova Scotia, had a stand at All Energy explained how specific Marine Renewables legislation is due to be enacted in Nova Scotia this autumn. It was great to hear how advanced policy and environmental assessment is with regard to renewables in Nova Scotia, where the Bay of Fundy is poised for development in tidal energy. Finally Planet Ocean was impressive with a range of equipment suitable for research and mitigation in the marine environment with impressive unmanned surface vehicles and static buoyed systems among other equipment. The All Energy exhibition is a free annual event, held in Scotland.
