OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENTAL BULLET POINTS

	The UK offshore industry is not a significant polluter of the North Sea. It is accepted that oil and gas activities can damage the environment which is why, where such risks exist, suitable controls are applied to protect any environmental sensitivities. Government has initiated a consultation on improvements that could be made to the current environmental regime;
	1998 saw the introduction of new environmental impact assessment Regulations aimed to further protect the offshore environment and allow greater public access to the environmental information and 1999 sees the introduction of Regulations implementing the 1997 amending Council Directive on environmental impact assessments requiring certain activities to be subject to an environmental impact assessment or obtain a Direction advising that one is not necessary;
	Accidental oil spills for 1998 are at third lowest level for 10 years;
	Oil discharges in produced water are at the lowest level ever in percentage terms and lowest for 4 years in tonnage;
	The average content of oil in produced water has fallen to 22 parts per million -the lowest recorded figure;
	2 cases were referred to the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland for further investigation in 1998. A further case is to be heard in court under the English legal system;
	Over 300 hours of unannounced aerial surveillance of offshore oil and gas installations was undertaken with minimum amounts of oil detected;
	The computer link to the surveillance aircraft has provided for a faster response to oil spill incidents;
	New Regulations in 1998 called for mandatory oil spill contingency plans for offshore activities;
	There were 60 environmental inspections carried out during 1998 - 1999;
	The discharge of oil contaminated drill cuttings effectively ceased from 1 January 1997;
	A reduction programme for phasing out the discharge of drill cuttings contaminated with unacceptable synthetic drilling fluids continues and is on target for zero discharges by the end of 2000;
	The UK has a system of voluntary chemical notification and classification respected by many other countries which has resulted in a clear positive effect in the types of chemicals being discharged offshore - work in 1999 will impose mandatory controls;
	The DTI has continued to participate in offshore environmental research and developments programmes;
	The Chancellor announced in his 9 March Budget Statement that the Government intends to introduce in April 2001, a climate change levy on business use of energy.

Title | Table of Contents
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9
Appendix 1 | Appendix 2 | Appendix 3 | Appendix 4 | Appendix 5 | Appendix 6 | Appendix 7 | Appendix 8 | Appendix 9
Appendix 10 | Appendix 11 | Appendix 12 | Appendix 13 | Appendix 14 | Appendix 15 | Appendix 16 | Appendix 17
Index Map | Plate 1 | Plate 2W | Plate 2E | Plate 3W | Plate 3E | Plate 4W | Plate 4E | Plate 5W | Plate 5E | Plate 6
Plate 7 | Plate 8W | Plate 8E | Plate 9W | Plate 9E | Plate 10W | Plate 10E | Plate 11 | Plate 12 | Legend
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