Environmental Report 1999 Index

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Emissions And Discharges As with all industrial processes, offshore exploration and production operations generate waste products which must be disposed of in accordance with legal and other requirements. Recognising the need for accurate environmental statistics, offshore operators have devised and established the EEMS database of discharges, emissions and other wastes arising from offshore operations. As well as providing the information required by the regulatory authorities, it contains much data that is voluntarily collected by operators. In all, the database covers: accidental oil spills; produced water; chemicals used and discharged; production chemicals; drilling chemicals; pipeline chemicals; drill cuttings and drilling fluids discharged; atmospheric emissions; waste returned to shore. This section of our report presents and interprets the data held in the EEMS for 1998 and previous years, where available. Where published data is available and appropriate comparisons can be made, we also compare the offshore industry with other industrial sectors. When reading the figures set out in this section, it needs to be remembered that the UK offshore oil and gas industry, along with the rest of society, has become increasingly aware of the importance of our impact on the environment. As a result, oil spills and chemical discharges are more consistently reported now than they were in the past.