Environment Report 2017

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2017

Figure 2: Total Produced Water Discharged to Sea and Reinjected versus Production

300

2,000

Produced Water Discharged Produced Water Reinjected Production

1,800

250

1,600

1,400

100 Produced Water (Million m 3 ) 150 200

1,200

1,000

800

600

Production (Million boe)

400

50

200

0

0

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2009

2010

2005

2006

2007

2008

2003

2004

2000

2001

2002

Source: EEMS July 2017

International Comparison The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) reports that globally 0.6 tonnes of producedwater were discharged and 0.5 tonnes were reinjected per tonne of hydrocarbon produced (both onshore and offshore) by IOGP member companies in 2016 4 . In comparison, 1.8 tonnes of produced water were discharged and 0.6 tonnes reinjected per tonne of hydrocarbon produced on the UKCS during 2016. This reflects the maturity of the UKCS and its technically challenging environment compared to other basins around the world. It is therefore to be expected that more produced water is generated in the UK than the global average. When comparing specifically with Norway, 2.4 tonnes of total produced water were generated per tonne of hydrocarbon on the UKCS in 2016 compared with 0.8 tonnes of produced water per tonne of hydrocarbon on the Norwegian Continental Shelf 5 . This is because many of the larger fields in Norwegian waters are yet to reach high levels of water as a percentage of total production and new fields with high levels of daily production are continuing to come on-stream. Similarly to the UK, 24 per cent of total produced water is reinjected into the subsurface.

4 See IOGP Environmental Performance Indicators 2016 at http://www.iogp.org/data-series 5 See Norsk Olje & Gass Environmental Report 2017 at http://bit.ly/NorskEnvironRep17

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