Only since 1990 has the oil industry been able to produce oil from depths below 500 metres. On the Atlantic Frontier, new combinations of technology

Industrialisation of the North Sea could soon be a reality for the Atlantic Frontier

will be used in depths over 1,500 metres and in waters where storms are frequent in winter, and waves can exceed 20 metres in height.

For the exploration arm of the oil industry, the Atlantic Frontier presents an opportunity to test new technology, and a stepping-stone to regions such as the Arctic.

The oil fields

Over 200 blocks have already been allocated, involving over 30 companies, including: BP, Shell, Texaco, Mobil, Amoco, Conoco, British Gas, Total, Elf, Chevron, Esso, Arco and Fina. As one commentator put it, it's: 'a near complete roll-call of the world's most significant oil companies.'

The fields where work has progressed furthest are Foinaven and Schiehallion, 'West of Shetland', managed by BP and Shell. Both are being 'fast tracked', to shorten the eight-year approval period usual in the North Sea to a hasty four years.

Undiscovered reserves in the West of Shetland area are estimated at up to 15 billion barrels.

Oil pollution

Exploration in the Atlantic Frontier poses a very significant threat of oil pollution: spills are inevitable, and little can be done to reduce their impact once they have occurred.

Frequent tanker movements, with at-sea transfers of oil plus all the associated operations, increase the risk.

Oil extraction and production processes cause routine pollution, from day-to-day operational discharges. Industrialisation of the Atlantic Frontier would inevitably bring a growing level of this kind of pollution. For example, BP's Assessment predicts that each of the wells at Foinaven will produce over 200 cubic metres of cuttings, containing toxic drilling chemicals. In all, some 22,660 tonnes of water-based muds will be produced and left on the seabed in phase one of the Foinaven operations. Drilling muds contain various toxic components.

Oil politics

A great deal of oil industry money is spent on public relations, especially where oil pollution is concerned. This includes sponsorship of wildlife and environmental organisations.

Funding scientific research is also of key importance to the oil companies on the Atlantic Frontier. Few marine scientists or institutions have not got a contract with some part of the oil-funded work on the Atlantic Frontier. The Government's own nature conservation advisory body, the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee (JNCC), is playing a major role in co-ordinating research funded by the oil companies.

Yet it is a process of 'study-and-drill. There is never any question that the results might be used to review whether oil exploration should go ahead on the Atlantic Frontier.

Despite all the activity, there has been no formal legal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Atlantic Frontier development. It is going ahead with less public environmental control than would be applied to an extension to a shoe factory. This is because the UK Government has failed to implement the European Community EIA Directive for such offshore operations.