Terrex Seismic announced its intention to create the world’s first carbon neutral seismic crews at APPEA 2009, an industry conference dominated by carbon emission trade discussions.
Unveiling the lightweight, small footprint seismic crew on the first day of the conference on 1 June 2009, Terrex threw down the gauntlet to other resources based companies to follow suit and find innovative practices to reduce carbon emissions. Leading by example in the bid to reduce emissions from onshore oil and gas and CSG exploration in Australia, TS has engaged independent carbon-neutral consultants from a not-for-profit organisation to provide ongoing advice relating to the design and implementation of its new Ultralight Envirovibe Crew, to be deployed on operations in Queensland from July 2009.
Compared with a conventional 2D seismic crew, this newly configured lightweight, small footprint seismic crew consists of:
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2 x buggy envirovibes (instead of 4 x hemi 44 6x6 truck vibrators)
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17 people (instead of 24)
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9 landcruisers (instead of 13)
Upon completing a third party carbon emissions audit of the new crew, including the embodied energy used during the manufacturing, delivery and implementation process of the necessary envirovibes, landcruisers and trucks, Terrex will purchase sufficient Verified Emission Reduction units (VERS) from the not-for-profit organisation to immediately offset Carbon Emissions up until commencement of crew operations. Once the Ultralight Envirovibe Crew is operating in the field, carbon emissions will be audited and VERs purchased on a quarterly basis to ensure the crew’s carbon neutral status is maintained. The advantage of VERs is that the carbon credit is available immediately rather than having to wait 30 years for the maturing tree to absorb its relevant kilograms of CO2.
With the assistance of the independent contractor, TS will secure VERs from the Australian Climate Exchange, which have been generated through avoided emissions from a project at the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council’s (SMRC) Waste Composting Facility (WCF). One VER equals one tonne of avoided CO2emission, which is achieved by the WCF diverting household waste from Perth’s southern suburbs away from landfill and into an efficient recycling and composting facility, thus reducing carbon emissions. With the sale of each VER by Carbon Neutral they also plant a tree to produce a long term extra reforestation and carbon sequestration benefit. Both Choice Magazine and Carbon Offset Watch, a partnership of Total Environment Centre Inc, the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney, have rated the SMRC’s carbon offsets as “outstanding”.
The envirovibes, which have been imported from US manufacturer IVI, use the Sercel 428XL recording system and Sensor SM24 10 Hz high specification geophones. “Our envirovibes are 25% of the weight of the large scale seismic vibrators we use for deeper target conventional oil and gas and deep crustal seismic, leading to minimal impact on agricultural land, reduced noise through improved sound proofing, reduced emissions from smaller, more fuel efficient engines and a lighter footprint when used through country towns and rural regions”, Terrex Seismic Managing Director SteveTobin said. “Continuing Terrex’s innovations over the past few years, we are keen to work with our clients to ensure that conscious action and high technology within the energy and minerals exploration industry is seen as part of the solution to minimising humanity’s impact on the Earth’s fragile environment and ecosystems.”
