(Oil & Gas 360) – Just months away from a long-awaited international protocol for mining the deep-sea floors of the world for the rare earth minerals increasingly important to modern society, a recent scientific paper could potentially stall efforts by miners and lawmakers to weaken Chinese domination of the rare earth minerals supply chain.
Companies looking to explore ocean floors outside of national boundaries have long been battling the ever-present opposition from environmental groups who are now citing a recent scientific declaration of identifying oxygen production from the deepest recesses of the ocean in “nodules” where cobalt, nickel, and manganese have been found.
The study in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests there is evidence of oxygen production in what is essentially total darkness. It has been a long held scientific maxim that oxygen is almost exclusively produced in nature via solar photosynthesis, which requires light as a catalyst. Photolysis, where ultraviolet light breaks down water molecules in the atmosphere releases oxygen; certain chemical reactions can release oxygen as well.
The issue complicates matters for the International Seaboard Authority (ISA) which functions under the aegis of the United Nations. It is charged with creating a framework for best practices protecting oceans in international waters while allowing their exploitation.
A draft of proposed ISA regulations is expected in March of 2025. Environmental groups are urging a postponement until there is more science performed to understand the oxygenating phenomenon. General Motors and Tesla are among companies on record opposing a moratorium on deep sea mining.
Nonetheless, nations are allowed to regulate their own deep-sea mining within the twelve miles from their national shores in international recognition of their sovereignty.
Further provisions are also recognized internationally of what are called Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that allow a country rights to explore for marine resources including energy up to two hundred miles from its shores.
In an intriguing extension of its colonial past, France has the largest EEZ in the world at over 4.5 million square miles due to its numerous overseas territories. The United States is not far behind at 4.3 square million miles across the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and three oceans and Australia’s EEZ is over three million square miles. Other EEZ countries include Russia, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.
The first submerged oil well was drilled over 130 years ago in California’s Santa Barbara Channel, but the instance of offshore drilling most commonly believed to be the forerunner of modern offshore drilling was a well completed by Kerr McGee in 1947. Although the well was beyond the sight of land, it was only in about twenty feet of water. Actual construction of offshore drilling platforms was introduced when ocean bottom depth was approaching one hundred feet.
By Jim Felton for oilandgas360.com
