Striking a Balance Index

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3.3 Managing Enviromental Impacts Progress to date: achievements and difficulties encountered Concentrations of oil in produced water This chart shows the success which industry has had over the last decade in reducing average concentrations of oil in produced water. This is in the context of concentrations which, without industry action, would normally rise as fields mature. Figure 25 Concentration of oil in produced water Discharge of chemicals offshore This chart shows industry's record in reducing its use of chemicals. The classification A to E is that used by the Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme (OCNS) administered by the DTI, with A as most hazardous and E least. By far the largest part of the chemicals used by industry are category E (around 160 kilotonnes) with the quantity being reduced by 13% over the 1996-99 period. The industry is currently rapidly phasing out its use of unclassified chemicals (those which have yet to be assigned a category). Figure 26 The total amounts of chemicals (tonnes) from all sources which were discharged 1996 - 1999 Year E D C B A Unclassified 1996 186,241 5,402 5,191 508 405 19,622 1997 187,379 6,229 2,215 355 5,274 15,879 1998 173,951 6,696 2,571 813 3,964 14,702 1999 163,583 4,305 2,941 1,899 389 5,449 Atmospheric emissions The industry has had most success in reducing methane and carbon monoxide emissions. The other emissions in this chart have reduced per unit of production, but not in absolute terms. Figure 27 Atmospheric emissions 1996-1998 CO2 emissions Figure 28 shows total CO2 emissions up 3% over the 1996-99 period, although this represents a reduction per unit of production. Figure 29 shows the sources of CO2 emission, the majority (65%) being from burning fuel to provide energy for the production process. Figure 28 CO2 Emissions 1996-1999 Figure 29 Offshore sources of CO2 1999 Oil spill response Our priority is prevention. This has been largely successful and spills from offshore installations and pipelines now constitute around 10% of recorded oil releases (see oil spill discharges and spills statistics below). In the event of a spill, however, we have established containment measures to minimise environmental impact. Should a spill require more than a local response, the industry has contractual arrangements with oil spill response specialists Oil Spill Response Ltd (OSRL) and BRIGGS Marine to provide additional assistance. A new operational alliance between these two firms commits them to enhanced training plans, development of new technology (including remote sensing equipment and modular dispersant delivery) and improved oil spill modelling systems. Figure 30 Oil spill quantities (tonnes) Figure 31 Number of oil spills Sustainable Development Action Plan Produced Water We reaffirm our commitment not to exceed 30ppm oil in water concentration as a company annual average. We favour a goal setting approach, based upon the principles of bat (best available technology), for the UK. We have communicated our views on the best way forward to our government representatives on the oil industry committee (OIC) of OSPAR, which met to discuss this subject in February 2001. We are reviewing the results of OIC's discussions and the advantages of developing an industry position by early 2002, in order to achieve an overall improvement in environmental performance. Greenhouse gases (GHG) We have agreed to share best practice in this area. We will review ongoing GHG reduction programmes across the industry. These include the voluntary Flare Consents Pilot and the UK Emissions' Trading (ACBE-CBI) Scheme, in which our industry is playing a significant role. Several UKOOA companies are also involved in European Union efforts to establish viable processes to reduce methane emissions and capture or sequester CO2. We will examine other potential areas for action and, with a fuller understanding of the issues, review the potential for developing an industry-wide approach for end 2001. Volatile organic compounds (VOC) We commit to sharing best practice, including learning from those companies with international experience of the costs and benefits of VOC emissions reductions from their offshore installations and shuttle tankers. We have asked UKOOA's VOC Working Group to produce recommendations on VOC emissions in 2001, addressing potential reductions in environmental impact, costs and emerging legal requirements. Improved design is likely to be one way of delivering VOC reductions effectively. Oil spill prevention - exploration and production operations We aspire to have no large spills (defined as greater than 30 tonnes or 225 barrels). We will seek to achieve this by systematically focusing on the risks presented by existing facilities. For small spills (excluding third party spills), we have set ourselves the target of reducing the total annual volume of such spills by 30% by end 2003 (over the 1999 figure of 105 tonnes for accidental spills from installations and vessels working for installations). We will aim to achieve this through an industry programme of increasing awareness of the behaviours leading to incidents, by the discipline imposed through EMS and by sharing best practice. Oil spill prevention - shipping operations Shipping oil and its products is carried out by companies independent of those undertaking exploration and production on the UKCS (see Section A for an explanation of the structure of the industry). Although some of these have the same parent companies as the exploration and production businesses, they operate as completely separate entities. The regulation and supervision of shipping follows international and regional or local laws, conventions and standards. It is undertaken by: the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a United Nations' body the international classification societies (Lloyd's Register, Det Norske Veritas, American Bureau of Shipping among others) the flag states in which ships are registered, and the states through whose waters ships pass or whose ports ships visit. The Oil Companies International Marine Forum in London represents oil companies' interests in marine transport and is primarily concerned with safe conduct of these operations and prevention of pollution. When shipping accidents or mishaps occur, the environmental impact can be very large - out of all proportion to the oil spills from our own operations upstream. We are committed to the following actions: We will improve the understanding of our respective roles and responsibilities by clarifying the structure of the overall industry and our position within it, adding this to the UKOOA web-site during 2001. We will build on the existing dialogues with OCIMF to further develop ways of reducing hydrocarbon spillage. Recognising the distinction of roles described above, but using our influence in the supply chain, we shall seek shipping arrangements relating to our UK activities only with those who, we judge, operate to proper standards and in accordance with the law, so as to prevent or minimise the risks posed by the spillage of hydrocarbons.