Environment Report 2015

Accidental Releases • The UK oil and gas industry does its utmost to prevent accidental oil and chemical releases by investing heavily in physical barriers, such as downhole safety valves, maintenance to minimise leaks, as well as by developing handling procedures and training that influence human behaviours. In the event of an accidental oil release, operators have approved emergency response plans in place and use a wide range of response techniques to monitor, contain and recover releases. • Last year saw the smallest mass of accidental oil releases on record at just under 20 tonnes, representing 0.00003 per cent of the total oil production in 2014. • The average size of accidental oil releases has fallen from 0.56 tonnes in 2010 to 0.07 tonnes in 2014, with no single releases last year greater than ten tonnes of oil. • Similarly, there has been a decline in the mass of accidental chemical releases from 640 tonnes in 2010 to 110 tonnes in 2014. Eighty-eight per cent of the accidental chemical releases between 2010 and 2014 were PLONOR and low hazard chemicals. Last year, accidental chemical releases made up 0.03 per cent of the total chemicals used on the UKCS. • The average size of accidental chemical releases has fallen from 3.98 tonnes in 2010 to 0.61 tonnes in 2014. There were no accidental releases greater than 200 tonnes of chemicals last year. Oil & Gas UK • From2014 to 2015, Oil &Gas UK has been working with its members to improve efficiency in the environmental management of exploration and production operations by standardising environmental management practices; working together to reduce duplication and provide evidence to consultations jointly; and by minimising the administrative burden of new legislation by working closely with key stakeholders in the UK Government and from the EU. This work aims to improve efficiency in process while maintaining current levels of environmental protection. • Further efficiency improvements are achievable through continued effort by industry and the regulators and a proportional approach to environmental management based on the level of environmental risk posed. Such an approach would allow effort and resources to be sensibly focused on the areas of greatest risk and potentially significant impact.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

page 7