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Environmental Impact Assessment
Guarantees, regulations and requirements for seismic prospecting
12/11/2025
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The incorporation of seismic prospecting into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system implies a significant change in the analysis that the State carries out for its possible authorization. Particularly, in the 2025 approvals, a substantial tightening of environmental requirements is observed.
Prior to this definition, the activity was authorized without the presentation of comprehensive studies, without clear limits on when and where it could be carried out and with smaller controls. Starting in 2017, it is mandatory to previously demonstrate what its impacts are and how they will be prevented, controlled and compensated. Proof of this are the authorizations granted in 2025 where these demands are evident.
Seismic is now included in projects that require EIA, which requires a complete Environmental Impact Study to be carried out. This involves evaluating the effects on marine fauna, fishing and human activities, and defining prevention, mitigation and/or compensation measures so that the environmental impacts of the activity are admissible.
In this way, the activity is carried out with the maximum guarantees of environmental protection in our history and is one of the most demanding at an international level.
Thus, controls and monitoring are carried out during the development of the activity, with inspections of the vessels and plans to verify that the established environmental measures are met.
In authorized projects, as a precaution, safety distances around ships are extended to avoid impacts on whales, dolphins, turtles, sea lions and their babies. If the presence of these animals is detected within the defined distances, the activity must stop. Companies are also required to strengthen teams with specialized marine fauna observers on board and the use of acoustic systems to detect fauna.
In turn, specific restrictions are established on the activity between May and October, to prevent it from coinciding with the period of greatest presence of marine fauna in the area.
Additionally, underwater noise monitoring is required to verify that real levels coincide with those predicted by mathematical models of noise propagation in the marine environment.
In relation to fishing, economic compensation is established if a decrease in the catch is verified, and it is required to monitor the effect of sound waves on the temporary scaring away of fish of commercial interest as well as the impact on their eggs and larvae.
Finally, general obligations to support monitoring systems for marine fauna strandings on the coast are added, contributing to improving knowledge and systematization of information.
With the Environmental Impact Assessment, today, seismic prospecting went from being an activity with minimal controls to being strongly regulated with a scheme that seeks to prevent damage, reduce risks and mitigate the environmental and social impacts that this activity can generate.
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Environmental Impact Assessment
