BSEE FY 2016 University of California, Santa Barbara

archived

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is seeking a proposal from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Marine Science Institute, and the Department of Earth Science to enter into a cooperative agreement with BSEE for three years beginning June 1, 2016. This project, to study the Effect of Hydrocarbon Production on Offshore Natural Seep Rates in the Coal Oil Point Area, Santa Barbara, CA, will be a collaborative venture and will include substantial involvement of BSEE. Scope of Objectives: A) Quantify the relationship between the natural hydrocarbon seep flux when hydrocarbon production is shut-in and again when hydrocarbon production is resumed; B) Inform the public, the local county and State governments, the media, and academia about the natural seepage and the "positive" effect oil and gas production can have on the environment; C) Answer the question of how the heavy Monterey oil moves up through overlying strata and gets to the sea surface. Does it attach to upward migrating gas bubbles or does it rise by another method?; and D) Help BSEE and the U.S. Coast Guard anticipate/explain large "burps" of oil in the water and on the beaches such as happened in July 2015, two months after the platforms were shut-in.

High