Sound and marine life

Under IOGP management, this project has brought together up to 14 oil & gas companies and industry associations.

The JIP aims to:

• better characterise the sounds that our industry produces
• determine the potential impacts of these sounds on marine life and thereby to improve risk assessments and mitigation.

Study areas

To date, the JIP has commissioned more than 50 research projects. These can be categorised into 5 main study areas:

1. the characteristics of sound from oil and gas operations and how those sounds spread
2. physical, physiological and hearing effects of those sounds on marine life
3. behavioural reactions and biologically significant effects
4. mitigation and monitoring
5. the most effective research tools

Research projects include:

• a study, nearing completion in the Gulf of Mexico provides, for the first time, a thorough understanding of the sounds produced by offshore exploration using seismic air guns.
  This study quantified sound generated by seismic exploration surveys (which use air guns to release sound pulses in water as a way of assessing seabed formations below).
• other studies that investigated the hearing thresholds, ranges and sensitivities of dolphins and Arctic seals.
• the development – and deployment – of a software package to help interpret sounds from marine mammals picked up by passive acoustic monitoring systems. This is already helping operators to avoid or reduce interaction with marine mammals during seismic surveys.

For more information visit

E&P Sound and Marine Life Programme