Assessment of the OSPAR Report on Discharges, Spills and Emissions from Offshore Installations 2020 – 2024
Executive Summary
This report presents the discharges, spills and emissions data from offshore installations in the OSPAR maritime area for the period 2020 - 2024 and provides an assessment of that data. The assessment is based on the data provided to OSPAR by Contracting Parties and published in the annual reports on discharges, spills and emissions from offshore oil and gas installations.
a. Level of Activity
The OSPAR Maritime Area is a mature oil and gas region with the majority of Contracting Parties experiencing declining production. Despite so, the production activities continue to recover reserves. There has been a general decline in oil and gas exploration and development, although variation has been seen. The number of wells drilled during the period has generally declined with a peak of 423 in 2021 to 356 in 2024. The total production of hydrocarbons in OSPAR’s maritime area has decreased by almost 11% over the reporting period. The number of operating installations has further decreased over the five-year period, with a decline of 8 % for both oil- and gas installations and 5 % for subsea installations.
b. Discharges & Spills of Oil
Discharges of oil continue to decrease
The total annual quantity of dispersed oil (aliphatic oil) discharged to sea from produced water and displacement water decreased between 2020 – 2024 from 4 086 tonnes to 3 042 tonnes, a decrease of 26%.
As in previous years, produced water is the main contributor to the oil discharges from offshore oil and gas activities, representing 68% of the total amount of oil discharged to sea during the 2020-2024 period.
The quantity of oil spilled has varied over the period, ranging from 39 tonnes in 2020 up to 150 tonnes in 2024.
Concentration of dispersed oil in produced water is below the performance standard for most installations.
There has been no substantial change in the dispersed oil concentration, averaging 13,6 mg/l from installations in the OSPAR Maritime Area as a whole varying from 6,9 mg/l to 17,2 mg/l over the period but still well below the current OSPAR performance standard for dispersed oil of 30 mg/l.
In 2020, 24 installations exceeded the 30 mg/l performance standard for dispersed oil in produced water. This number had fallen to 12 by 2024. Efforts are ongoing to reduce the number of installations which still exceed the performance standard.
Chemicals
Most chemicals used and discharged offshore are considered to pose little or no risk
Since 2001 the use and discharge of chemicals have been regulated by OSPAR. The first reporting year for which all Contracting Parties provided data was 2003. The total quantity of chemicals used offshore decreased from a peak of 838 111 tonnes in 2009 to 573 230 tonnes in 2024 a reduction of nearly 32%. Data from 2024 shows that less than 2% (by weight) of the chemicals used contain either substances on the OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action (LCPA) or substances which are candidates for substitution.
For this reporting period, the total quantity of chemicals discharged to sea decreased from a peak of 181 259 tonnes in 2022 to 163 803 tonnes in 2024, 94% of which were chemicals on the OSPAR PLONOR list. In 2024, about 1,2% (wt.) of the discharged chemicals contained LCPA substances or substances which are candidates for substitution.
OSPAR Recommendation 2005/2 set environmental goals for the reduction of substances on the OSPAR LCPA such that discharges were to be phased out by 2010. While it has previously been reported that this phasing out was achieved by 2014, recent data reviews and methodological developments indicate that this is not the case.
OSPAR Recommendation 2006/3 sets out environmental goals on the phasing out of discharges of offshore chemicals that are, or which contain substances, identified as candidates for substitution by 2017. Although there had been a general reduction in the discharge of such substances over the past many years, the recent recategorisation of several common offshore chemicals has resulted in an increase in reported discharge of substitution chemicals for the three-year period, 2022 to 2024.
Atmospheric Emissions
Atmospheric emissions are stable or decreasing
Atmospheric emissions are not regulated by OSPAR measures, nonetheless, atmospheric emissions from offshore oil and gas operational activities are included in annual reports. Emissions to the atmosphere have generally decreased for the period 2020 to 2024.