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 Offshore oil production results in environmental discharges of drill cuttings and produced water, contaminated with residuals of exploration and production (E&P) chemicals and formation chemicals. Increased concern over the potential impacts of E&P chemicals in the marine environment has led to the development of regulatory requirements in some jurisdictions and a number of methodologies for the management of E&P chemicals. One of the requirements is the selection (notification) of environmentally harmless chemicals together with a strict regulatory control of the use of chemicals with a potential environmental impact. Part of this requirement is embodied by the Harmonised Offshore Chemical Notification Format (HOCNF) adopted by OSPAR in the PARCOM decision 96:3 for the north-western European region.
For each chemical product used by the offshore oil and gas industry a separate HOCNF needs to be registered. The HOCNF consists of three parts:
1. General info (e.g., info on supplier and product composition)
2. Ecotoxicological info (e.g. aquatic toxicity of components)
3. Confirmation statement
For this project, IMARES has designed a database to register and manage HOCNFs of chemical products used by the offshore oil and gas industry on the Dutch continental shelf. IMARES has managed this database, which contained HOCNFs of approximately a thousand products at the end of the project, and played an advisory role during the registration.
As a complimentary task, IMARES has performed a random check of the registered products for their completeness and correctness. The evaluation of a random subset of 12 products (containing 125 chemical components) revealed that part 2 the HOCNF is amendable for improvement. Specific recommendations for upgrading the HOCNF were reported to the Dutch State Supervision of Mines. |