Out now, March’s issue of Geographical magazine includes a look at the need for decommissioning the thousands of ageing platforms and equipment used by the offshore oil and gas industry.
In the Asia-Pacific region alone, there are approximately 2,600 platforms, 35,000 wells, 7.5 million tonnes of steel and 55,000km of pipeline which will need to be decommissioned in the next 10 years. The potential cost of which could exceed £78 billion. Closer to home, half of the 600 installations in the North Sea are at the end of their life and will need to be decommissioned by 2021 - at a cost of approximately £20 billion to the UK government.
There are many concerns and considerations that go hand in hand with decommissioning such huge structures, including the pollution related to decommissioning activities and also what to do with the components and metal once the structures have been dismembered. Where does responsibility lie for removing rigs, capping wells... and meeting the sizeable price tag?
This issue also features last year’s Neville Shulman Challenge Award recipient, Katie Arnold, as she recalls her travels through Kyrgyzstan documenting the social, economic and political impact climate change is having on those living in the Naryn River Basin.
Plus, a look at how the infamous yellow New York taxi is under threat from the rise of apps such as Uber and Lyft; a spotlight on the arbitrary borders between Chile and Argentina in the Patagonia region; and the increase in co-living environments in a world where fewer people can afford to get on the housing ladder.
Geographical is included as part of the membership package for Ordinary Members, as a digital edition for Young Geographers and it can also be added to subscriptions for Fellowship. So why not join us today?