Rare Earth
Sign in to watch this content please.
- Episode
- Episode 11 - Can an oil rig be a nature reserve?
- Broadcast Info
- 2024 (52 mins)
- Description
- What should we do with our old oil rigs? Can the relics of the fossil fuel age be good for wildlife? Helen Czerski and Tom Heap investigate the future for the steel and concrete that’s fuelled the modern age. Helen visits a highly specialist scrapyard on Teeside which dismantles oil rigs bought ashore at the end of their lives. Tom and Helen discuss whether the rules on what happens to old oil and gas installations in the North Sea should be relaxed to allow some to be turned into artificial reefs. They hear from Professor Matt Frost from Plymouth Marine Laboratory and INSITE, an international project investigating the future for undersea structures; Dr Alethea Madgett a marine ecologist who’s researching how old rigs can be used in nature restoration; and Ricky Thomson from the industry body Offshore Energies UK.
- Genre
- Environment
How to cite this record
The Open University, "Rare Earth". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/249710 (Accessed 24 Mar 2026)