Environment Report 2016

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2016

2. Executive Summary The UK offshore oil and gas industry is a major hazard sector and is committed to maintaining operations that minimise the effect on the natural environment. Environmental performance is monitored using a number of metrics. Industry Emissions and Discharges • The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) regulates all emissions and discharges from the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and operators must apply for a permit to produce emissions to air or discharges to sea. As part of the permit application, the potential environmental effects and any mitigation measures need to be considered. • Discharges and emissions are closely monitored offshore by operating companies and are recorded in the Environmental Emissions Monitoring System (EEMS) 1 database. Since 2000, there has been an overall downward trend in discharges and emissions. This mirrors the decline in UKCS oil and gas production, but it is also the result of process management and application of the best available techniques by industry. • In 2015, however, the production upturn for the first time in 15 years resulted in a rise in producedwater volumes, production chemicals discharged to sea and in atmospheric emissions, although this was proportionally less than the 10 per cent increase in production, reflecting the industry’s commitment to environmental management. • Produced water comes to the surface with hydrocarbons during production. Last year, the increase in production resulted in a rise in the volumes of produced water handled on the UKCS to 202 million cubic metres. This is a 7.5 per cent increase in produced water compared with the 10.4 per cent growth in production. It is also important to note that hydrocarbons are harder to reach and extract in a mature basin generating large volumes of produced water. • The average concentration of oil discharged with produced water across the industry was 14.2 milligrammes/litre last year – less than half the OSPAR 2 recommended limit. Around 2,300 tonnes of oil were discharged with produced water, accounting for just over 0.001 per cent of the total mass of produced water discharged. • The average concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in produced water remains consistently and significantly below the 0.1 Bequerel per millilitre (Bq/ml) limit by an order of one hundred. Operators are required to notify the relevant environment agency for levels above 0.1 Bq/ml. • Seventy-two per cent (approximately 74,000 tonnes) of the total chemical discharges on the UKCS (just over 102,500 tonnes) in 2015 were classified as those that Pose Little Or NO Risk (PLONOR) to the environment. Just 6 per cent (around 6,100 tonnes) had a substitution (SUB) warning 3 . • Since 2000, however, there has been an overall 37 per cent decrease in the volume of produced water discharged to sea from 263 million cubic metres to 165 million cubic metres.

1 See www.gov.uk/guidance/oil-and-gas-eems-database 2 The OSPAR Commission aims to protect and conserve the North East Atlantic and its resources. See www.ospar.org 3 SUB chemicals are those classified as harmful under the Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme. These substances should be phased out and substituted with a less harmful chemical. See http://bit.ly/SUBchemicals

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