Environment Report 2015

54 / 64

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2015
page 54
Collaborative Projects
Oil & Gas UK has facilitated several collaborative and multi-stakeholder studies in 2015 to continue to improve
industry’s knowledge of the marine environment. Working in a collaborative manner has the twin benefits of
reducing the overall cost of the work and allowing for wider industry and stakeholder input and review of the
project outcomes. These studies include:
• Monitoring Capability Assessment – this study continues to gather information on the capability of the UK
industry and wider scientific community to monitor an offshore accidental oil release event on the UKCS.
Monitoring of the marine environment during an incident is important for assessing potential impacts and is
used to inform operational response decisions.
• Oil Sensitivity Index (OSI) for Seabirds – the index that describes seabird sensitivities to accidental oil releases
offshore is being updated to take into account the wealth of new survey data that have been collected and
to take the opportunity to review the method and factors used in calculating the OSI. A full report and new
Geographic Information System shapefile tool for industry is expected early in 2016.
• Environmental Legislation Website – the Environmental Legislation Website54 is an online resource for
members that provides information on the statutory requirements for offshore and onshore upstream oil and
gas activities. The website has been updated and modernised recently so that visitors can more easily search
the site and find key legislation. The new website was launched in early September 2015.
54 The Environmental Legislation website can be found at