Environment Report 2019

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2019 The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning

of the UK's total emissions

to 139 million cubic metres in 2018

5. Accidental Releases

Environmental Performance Bench

The amount of waste generated offshore decreased by 22% in 2018

3 million tonnes of CO₂ was emitted by flaring in 2018, 7% less than 2017

Total greenhouse gas emissions comprise

74% of CO₂ emissions Accidental Oil

3 %

Average concentration of oil in produced water was 16.1mg/l

73% of chemical discharges were PLONOR

Introduction T he UK oil and gas industry does its utmost to minimise accidental oil and chemical releases by addressing the plant, process and people elements that could prevent ormitigate such releases. The industry invests in thesebarriers through maintenance programmes to ensure the integrity of equipment; the provision of multiple physical barriers, such as downhole safety valves, closed drains, and bunding; through development of handling procedures that minimise the potential for releases; and in ongoing staff training and competence management to ensure personnel manage any risks to the environment. Through OGUK forums and work groups, its members are encouraged to share experiences from incidents and lessons learnt. Despite these efforts, some accidental releases to sea still occur. Safety legislation requires that certain hydrocarbon or chemical releases — generally those with potential to cause significant harm to the safety of personnel — are reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Environmental regulations go further, any andeveryhydrocarbonor chemical release that reaches the marine environment, regardless of size or potential to cause harm, must be reported to OPRED through the submission of a Petroleum Operations Notice 1 (PON1). Furthermore, every offshore installation has an oil pollution emergency plan (OPEP), approved by OPRED, setting out arrangements for responding to incidents to minimise the effect of releases. The plan takes into consideration the type of oil produced at the installation, the well flow rates and the inventory, possible scenarios for releases, environmental sensitivities, and whether and where any large oil release might reach the shoreline. 0.00002% Average concentration of oil in produced water was 16.1mg/l Accidental oil releases represented of otal production in 2018 0.00002% of the UK's total emissions 73% of chemical discharges were PLONOR

Accidental oil releases represented

0.00002%

came from power generatio

ma o

of total production in 2018 Environmental Performance Benchmarking

Accidental Oil and Chemical Rel

74% of CO₂ emissions

Carbon int nsit is 21kt CO₂e per mmboe

Accidental oil releases represented

Accidental chemical releases

oilandgasuk.co.uk/environ

came from power generation

make up less than 0.45% of the total chemicals disharged offshore

of total production in 2018

o

Accidental Oil and Chemical Releases

Accidental chemical releases

of all accidental chemical releases fell into the low risk or PLONOR categories 95%

oilandgasuk.co.uk/environmentreport

make up less than 0.45% of the tot l chemicals disharged offshore

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