A $500,000 study is underway to improve the safety of ocean oil rigs and platforms, amid concerns some have come close to breaking free.
Researchers at the University of Newcastle have received 450 tonnes of large metal links, which are used to chain rigs to the ocean floor.
They’ll take the chains to three ocean test sites around Australia to estimate how long it takes for them to corrode.
“The industry wants to make sure it reduces the risk of platforms kinds of breaking loose and they’ve had a few shocks to indicates that the chains are actually corroding faster than they were expecting.”
The study, funded by a consortium of oil companies, comes as drilling moves into more tropical zones.
text will be replaced
