Environment Report 2016

Waste is segregated and stored appropriately on offshore installations before transportation to shore where it is landed at a port. It is then transferred to a licensed waste contractor who organises waste management. Disposal to landfill is costly and is not sustainable in the long term. Operators segregate wastes to reduce the quantity of material going to landfill and to maximise reuse and recycling. The total amount, as well as the type, of waste generated varies from year to year depending on the level of industry activity in exploration, production, maintenance and decommissioning. Wastes classified as hazardous only present a risk to the environment if they are improperly managed. Modern disposal and recycling techniques, such as engineered landfill, incineration and recovery of waste oils, minimise the environmental impact. Waste Mass In 2015, around 218,500 tonnes of waste materials were returned to shore from the UKCS. This represents a 15 per cent increase when compared to 2014 (190,000) and continues the general rising trend since the mid-2000s. The increase in waste in 2015 is largely due to growing operational waste in the form of sludges, liquids and tank washings from mobile drilling rigs. This could be because of more rigorous reporting, but also well plugging and abandonment activity, which generates well fluids for disposal, and the growing number of rigs that are being stacked 41 and so need to be cleaned and their tanks emptied. Meanwhile, the amount of drilling waste has fallen by 23 per cent to under 52,000 tonnes, corresponding to the decline in drilling activity. The rising decommissioning activity is reflected in an 86 per cent increase in decommissioning waste. Decommissioning waste is currently a small contributor to the overall figures at just 4,733 tonnes, but this is expected to increase in the coming years 42 .

1

2

3

4

5

6

Figure 15: Waste Generated by Offshore Activity

7

250,000

Drilling

Operational

8

Decommissioning

200,000

150,000

100,000 Waste (Tonnes)

50,000

0

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Source: EEMS July 2016

41 Reducing a crew on a rig to either zero or just a few key individuals and storing the rig in a harbour. 42 See Oil & Gas UK’s Decommissioning Insight 2016 at www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/decommissioninginsight

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