Environment Report 2019

International Comparison International comparisons are not straightforward, as differences in the legislative and cultural norms in the industry worldwide can lead to different reporting behaviours. However, the IOGP reported a worldwide total of 1,009 oil releases larger than 1 boe in 2017, representing a total of 6,713 tonnes of oil. Of this, 244 tonnes were from offshore installations, with an average spill size of 2.5 tonnes. 14 The same dataset gives a European average of 0.15 tonnes released per million tonnes of offshore hydrocarbon production. In comparison, the UKCS reported approximately 0.17 tonnes accidentally released per million tonne of hydrocarbon production in 2018, a second year of decrease following 2017’s average of 0.29 tonnes. To put this further into context, Norway saw 0.17 tonnes accidentally released per million tonnes of hydrocarbons produced in 2015, falling to 0.07 tonnes in 2016, and 0.05 tonnes in 2017. The average mass released per reported spill in Norway in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, was 0.23 tonnes compared to 0.05 tonnes in the UKCS. 15

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14 See IOGP Environmental Performance Report Indicators 2017 15 The Norsk Olje & Gass Environmental Report 2018 is available to download at www.norskoljeoggass.no/en/Publica/Environmental-reports/

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