Environment Report 2014

6.3 Additional Services to Members Oil & Gas UK has continued to provide data and other resources to its members which help support their regular environmental management activities. Several key resources are outlined below. This includes a bi-monthly list of current and future environmental issues pertinent to the upstream industry. 6.3.1 Environmental Legislation Website The aim is to provide access to information on statutory environmental requirements for offshore and onshore upstream oil and gas operations. The website provides guidance on consent applications, statutory limits for discharges and emissions, and the statutory and industry reporting mechanisms that are in place. Guidance is also given on consent renewal, variation and what to do in the event of non-compliance. The website is updated quarterly and, in 2014, the website was modernised and improvements made to allow visitors to easily search the site and find key legislation information. 6.3.2 North Sea Interactive Oil & Gas UK worked with project partners at Herriot-Watt University, the British Geological Society (BGS) and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) on the Natural Environment Research Council-funded North Sea Interactive project. The aim was to develop a spatial database on macrobenthic, sedimentological, tidal current and associated bed stresses that can be used in an environmental assessment. The North Sea Interactive database is freely available online 28 . 6.3.3 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 is updated every six months. The data are free to download from the Oil & Gas UK website 29 . 6.3.4 Met Ocean Dataset To understand the potential impact and path of an accidental oil spill, operators undertake oil spill modelling. Oil & Gas UK has obtained a state-of-the art, five-year, met ocean dataset providing wind and current data from 2008 to 2014 for use in oil spill modelling which is freely available to members. Oil & Gas UK’s Environmental Legislation Website was established in 2003 and is an online resource for members.

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28 The North Sea Interactive database is available to view at www.cmbb.hw.ac.uk/research/coral-ecosystems/9-research/257-north-sea-interactive.html 29 The UK Benthos database is available to view at www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/knowledgecentre/uk_benthos_database.cfm

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