Client
Eni UK Limited

Region
St George’s Channel (Irish Sea)

Scope of Work
Orbis was commissioned by Eni to prepare a Marine Survey permit application and an application for a Disturbance Licence for European Protected Species (EPS) on the BEIS Portal Environmental Tracking System for a proposed 3D seismic survey in St George’s Channel in the Irish Sea.  In addition, an application was made to Natural Resources Wales for a Marine EPS Licence for Welsh inshore waters.

To support the applications, a robust but succinct EIA Justification document was drafted and Subacoustech Environmental Ltd was commissioned to run INSPIRE modelling software to predict noise levels and impact ranges from the airgun array. 

As the proposed survey area was located within the West Wales Marine candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) and had the potential to impact a number of other European sites designated for the protection of marine mammals, Orbis needed to ensure sufficient information was provided in the EIA Justification document to enable the competent authority (BEIS) to undertake a Habitats Regulations Assessment.