UK Production Up, Emissions Down

UK oil and gas production is rising but emissions are stable, meaning less damage is done per barrel of production, according to the 2019 Environmental Report, published July 24 by the upstream industry group Oil & Gas UK (OGUK). 

The emissions and discharges monitored include produced water, chemicals, drill cuttings, greenhouse gas emissions, gas flared and vented, and the amount of waste generated by upstream oil and gas operations.

In 2018, the total CO2 equivalent emissions from the production of offshore oil and gas in the UK were 14.63mn metric tons, representing 3% of the UK total. 

Over the past year, key areas of focus include the implications of Brexit on environmental legislation, EU Emissions Trading Scheme Phase IV, emission reductions, oil spill response, and continued engagement with the regulator.

Just over 1.2mn mt of gas were flared on the UKCS in 2018, down 6% on 2017. Flaring activity has had the largest effect on the total offshore CO2 equivalent emissions over the past five years. Flaring is an inherently variable element of the industry’s GHG emissions as it is primarily a safety operation.

In 2018, crude was the most common hydrocarbon type released, with 5.5 metric tons (mt) of crude accounting for 39% of the total. There were 63 releases of crude, one of which was over 2 mt. The next largest category was diesel, of which 3.1 mt were released. Well systems were the commonest source of the leaks and accounted for the heaviest (412.5 mt, some way ahead of pipelines, flowlines and ubilicals, which leaked 260 mt.

Operators are making changes to processes and equipment offshore to continually improve efficiency and emissions performance, it said.

The mass of chemicals discharged increased overall, but the discharge of the most hazardous chemicals reduced by 7% and 95% of the total were low or zero hazard chemicals, and less than 1 kg of the highest hazard chemicals were released, it said.

According to the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP), the European average was 0.15 mt accidentally released/1 mn mt of offshore hydrocarbon production. In comparison, the UKCS reported about 0.17 mt accidentally released/1 mn mt of hydrocarbon production in 2018, a second year of decrease following 2017’s average of 0.29 mt.

Norway saw 0.17 mt accidentally released/1 mn mt of hydrocarbons produced in 2015, falling to 0.07 mt in 2016, and  to 0.05 mt in 2017.