November 24, 2013: Flamin'...and an Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger)

365 Project, Day 121

Here is my day 121 submission to my 365Project:

"Set you life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames"
-Rumi

These are the night lights of offshore Angola...natural gas flares coming off oil and gas installations scattered around the horizon. Many nights I have woken from my deep sleep to the light of a natural gas flare bouncing around in my cabin. A bit like when you doze off next to the fireplace...but this is not quite as cozy. Oh well, I'm offshore Angola in December and with Christmas coming soon I am feeling a bit nostalgic about crisp winter days and sitting by the fireplace. I guess this will have to do for now :) 

Fact of the day:
Natural gas flares are considered a waste and a problem to some. According to the data on the webpage Resilience.org "Every year, approximately 140-150 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas is flared into the atmosphere. According to calculations by the World Bank, that is equivalent to three quarters of Russia's gas exports, or almost one third of the European Union's gas consumption. 

I also observed and photographed this Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus, also known as the Parasitic jaeger) flying past the ship today:

BBLT at dusk...with gas flare in action

August 11, 2013: Offshore Night Lights

365 Project, Day 51

Here is my day fifty-one submission to my 365Project:

I have been trying to get a decent photo of the lights, at night, of these offshore installations. It's difficult being on a ship because there's too much movement to do a long exposure. So, I've been playing with burst mode (with the hopes of getting many shots of which one might be sharp) and, so far, I think this is the best I have got. I am still going to keep experimenting though...and hopefully get something even better before I leave in just over a week!

Fun fact of the day:

About 150 billion cubic metres of natural gas are flared in oil production every year - more than a quarter of this amount in offshore production. 

Read more about work being done to turn this gas into a useful energy resource here in this document by CompactGTL.