OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Thomas Cowley, West Wight. Ed
One of the joys of being a parish councillor is getting to listen to the wealth of information that our parishioners bring to council meetings.
Last night was such an occasion: Yarmouth Town Council were discussing the developing situation around the Solent CO2 pipeline that Exxon are proposing to open trench across our region. This will leave a 50m wide scar across the Isle of Wight and through the New Forest.
Existing Perenco pipeline
During the discussion, one of our parishioners said his biggest concern was that Exxon weren’t considering re-using the Perenco pipeline that runs directly from Fawley down to Furzey Island, in Poole Harbour. He understands this pipeline has recently been pigged (internally cleaned) and is a pipeline that’s been used for about 30 years to pump out oil from the Wytch Farm oilfield.
The existence of his pipeline was not something I had been aware of prior to the meeting.
Perenco pipeline being wound down
After the meeting, I thought I should find out some more about this pipeline. It turns out that oil production in the Poole area is being wound down, which will mean it appears the Perenco oil pipeline will be redundant and unused infrastructure, in about four years. This article gives more detail on that.
As anyone who has attended Exxon’s public meetings around the proposed pipeline routes will know, Exxon are keen to impress upon attendees that the technology that will be used in the CO2 pipeline is very well established and is the same as used in virtually every other oil and gas pipeline around the world.
60 year lifetime
At the last online meeting for Parish Councils Exxon also explained that pipelines have a life of at least 60 years.
So, to summarise:
- There is a pipeline in the ground already, for the vast majority of the on-land route that is necessary to transport the CO2 to the proposed injection site
- The pipeline has been used for less than 50% of its design life
- The pipeline is going to be redundant and out of use within 5 years
- The easements and wayleaves are all already established and it’s possible no digging is necessary
- If the existing pipeline does need to be replaced, the easements and wayleaves are already in place to facilitate that work
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In a world of finite resources, internationally agreed, challenging climate change mitigation commitments and tough economic conditions, there are three things everybody and all organisations can do to help our world:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recycle
By negotiating access to, or ownership of this pipeline with Perenco, Exxon can vastly reduce the amount of construction needed. It can reduce the impact on precious and irreplaceable environments on the Island and in the New Forest National Park.
By negotiating with Perenco Exxon can reuse this existing pipeline.
That pipeline can be recycled from being used to transport oil out of the ground from the Wytch Farm oilfield, to deliver CO2 to the new injection site off the south west coast of the Isle of Wight.
Work with Perenco
Maybe Exxon haven’t considered this asset, as it’s not one they own?
It may be they can give the public 50 reasons they still want to trench a new private asset across other people’s land in the New Forest and on the Isle of Wight. There are far more reasons not to decimate precious habitats owned and cared for by others. There are far more reasons not to disrupt and blight thousands of people’s lives.
Exxon just has to make an effort to work with another private company to reuse existing infrastructure.
It’s the right thing to do
So, please Exxon: think outside your own corporate world. Collaborate with Perenco to reuse existing infrastructure and vastly reduce the environmental impact and CO2 emissions of getting a pipeline out to the proposed CO2 injection site.
Please Exxon, don’t invest PR money telling us why you cannot do this. Invest research and legal money in establishing how you can.
It’s what virtually everyone who is having their lives blighted by being on one of the proposed routes wants you to do. It’s the right thing to do commercially, for your shareholders and for the good of the environment.
OnTheWight has contacted the Solent CO2 Pipeline project team and asked what would stop them using the existing Perenco pipeline. We’ll update readers once we hear back. Ed
Article edit
11.30am 2nd Oct 2024 – Reference to asking Exxon a question added
