Environment Report 2014

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2014

3.5 Atmospheric Emissions Extraction, stabilisation and export of hydrocarbons involve several processes that give rise to atmospheric emissions. These include combustion to provide electrical power and to drive compressors and pumps; flaring of excess gas for safety and during well testing; and incidental releases from tank loading, as well as firefighting and refrigeration equipment.

Combustion and flaring result in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2

), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH 4

) and

oxides of nitrogen (NO x

) and sulphur (SO x

). Small amounts of nitrous oxide (N 2

O) are also released. Releases of

volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CH 4

may occur during tank loading, while firefighting and refrigeration

equipment may release halon and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

There are several legislative instruments that apply to and control emissions from the offshore industry, including the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), the Regulation (EC) 1005/2009 on substances that deplete the ozone, the Prevention and Control of Pollution (PPC) Regulations (as amended 2007), the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) Regulations 2014, and the EU Energy Efficiency Directive. DECC issues permits for atmospheric emissions and these emissions are recorded by the operator in the EEMS database. 3.5.1 Atmospheric Emissions Trends emissions offshore since the early 2000s (see Figure 7 opposite). This correlates with the decline in production and volumes of produced water over the same period. Production is forecast to level out over the next five years which could result in a plateauing of offshore emissions. In 2012, CO 2 emissions from UK offshore oil and gas production contributed three per cent of the total domestic CO 2 emissions 12 . There has been a sustained decrease in CO 2 , NO x , CO and SO 2

12 This data came from DECC. See http://bit.ly/CO2factsheet. Values for 2013 were not available at the time of writing.

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