A project, led by the National Oceanography Centre, has been launched to develop a guide for using ocean robots to assess the impact of decommissioned oil structures on marine life.

Decommissioned oil structures can provide a habitat for marine life in a similar way to a reef, or lead to negative consequences such as marine pollution.

The environmental impact of piles of oil-enriched sediments beneath many oil and gas installations is not well known, nor is the relative impact of redisturbing partially recovered systems while removing structures. Marine robots have great potential to investigate these impacts.

This one-year project will help industry transform how they approach monitoring by using autonomous systems to provide a low-cost, high-quality solution for repeat assessment.