Prospective and Potential Impact of Biological Communities in Southern Gulf of Mexico Shallow and Deepwater Offshore Metallic Structures

The installation of new deep-water oil and gas facilities will bring the attention of potential biofouling communities which will eventually colonize offshore structures. Marine growth is inevitable in the underwater photic and aphotic layers of marine platforms, as in tropical waters as the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of hard substrates in deepwater environments makes subsea production systems extremely attractive to colonizing organisms. Fouling can still become a significant problem on subsea production structures in the long-term. Any type of fouling growth masks steel surfaces and interferes with underwater cathodic protection inspection tasks with remotely controlled vehicles. The precise identification of fouling organisms is necessary for an adequate selection of antifouling methods. We address the biological communities to be expected in shallow and deepwaters of the Mexican (or Southern) Gulf of Mexico region and their potential biofouling and biocorrosive activity on offshore structures installed in this area. The adherence of photosynthetic fouling is expected in the photic zone, and suspension and filterfeeding organisms will probably be present throughout the water column. 

Keywords: biofouling, cathodic protection, inspection