Fossil fuel companies are sinking ever more money into undersea reserves, taking their operations to ever deeper and more remote waters. Today offshore projects represent more than 30 percent of global oil and gas production and they are only growing in numbers. This rising wave of offshore oil and gas activity threatens two global commons on which all life on Earth depends: the oceans and the atmosphere.
Our five-part series of briefs, Offshore, Off-Limits: Making Oceans Off-Limits to Offshore Oil and Gas dives into the many risks and impacts of offshore oil and gas activity across its phases, from seismic exploration and drilling in the seabed to coastal processing and overseas transport of fossil fuels. Each brief looks at a different phase of oil and gas activity and discusses how the hazards inherent in routine operations and the risks of accidents endanger the world’s oceans and the communities, ecosystems, and climate that depend on them. Offshore, Off-Limits: Making Oceans Off-Limits to Offshore Oil and Gas also addresses some of the applicable legal frameworks and principles that can help prevent harm and hold industry actors accountable.
This series makes clear that whether it’s from new deepwater exploration or legacy wells, offshore projects have profound impacts on human rights and the environment at every stage. To ensure a livable future for all, we need to make oceans everywhere off-limits to oil and gas.
Read the full five-part series.
Below you can find each of the individual briefs of the series:
Exploration |
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Production |
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Transportation |
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Decommissioning |
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Legal Tools |
To read a factsheet providing an overview of the harms posed by offshore oil and gas across its life cycle, click here.