Environment Report 2013

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2013

5. Data Provision and Management Effective environmental management requires accurate information on emissions, discharges and wastes, in addition to knowledge of the state of the environment in which operations take place. Publication of this data is also an important element in stakeholder engagement. Environmental and Emissions Monitoring System The Environmental and Emissions Monitoring System (EEMS) 15 is maintained by DECC and is the repository of measured and calculated emission and discharge data for offshore operations. Not all of the data submitted are a statutory requirement and operators provide additional data voluntarily as part of their environmental management processes. Oil & Gas UK’s Environmental Issues Directorate assists DECC in quality control of the data, encouraging improvements in submissions and contributing to discussions on potential enhancements to the database structure and content. On an annual basis, the directorate consolidates the data for the industry as a whole to assess trends and to identify any areas that may require more detailed assessment. The data for 2012 is presented in section 6 of this report. UK Benthos UK Benthos is a database of seabed chemical and biological data collected by the UK oil and gas industry during baseline, monitoring and wide area surveys. The data span nearly 30 years and an in-depth review has recently been commissioned by Oil & Gas UK whereby academics at Heriot-Watt University will analyse the spatial and temporal distribution and trends in the data. This analysis is intended to be used in developing more focused monitoring strategies and to gain added value from the data.

Six monthly updates of UK Benthos are published on the Oil & Gas UK website and are made available to other data repositories 16 .

Ad-hoc Databases Databases are also established by Oil & Gas UK to address specific issues. For example, the Oil Spill Response Forum needed to understand the potential for a major, sustained oil release from production installations on the UKCS. This can only occur from wells that are capable of an ‘unassisted flow’ of hydrocarbons. With input from operators, a database detailing the status of all production wells has been developed. An analysis of this data is provided in Appendix A.

15 See www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-eems-database 16 See www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/knowledgecentre/uk_benthos_database.cfm

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