Chemical Spills

• Offshore Installations (Emergency Pollution Control) Regulations 2002

These Regulations give the Government power to intervene in the event of an incident involving an offshore installation where there is, or may be a risk of significant pollution, or where an operator has failed to implement proper control and preventative measures. These Regulations apply to chemical and oil spills

• Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999
• Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002

These Regulations require all use and discharge of chemicals at offshore oil and gas installations to be covered under a permit system. Exceedance of discharge limits must be reported.

Amendments to the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002, made under Schedule 2 of the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005 (OPPC) increase the powers of DECC inspectors to investigate non-compliances and risk of significant pollution from chemical discharges, including the issue of prohibition or enforcement

EC Directive 2004/35 on Environmental Liability with Regard to the Prevention and Remedying of Environmental Damage (see Snippets).

Guidance on the Petroleum Operations Notice No 1

Provides guidance on oil and chemical spill reporting as well as a pro forma for spill reports.

Guidance on the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002

Additional Guidance for the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002

It is essential that the same name as given in the CEFAS Ranked List or the relevant PON15 permit is used when reporting chemical spills, where applicable.

Where a chemical is not on the CEFAS Ranked List or the PON15 because it is exempt from the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002, this should still be reported as a chemical spill. However, if this is a largely oil based chemical, it should be reported as an oil spill not a chemical spill.

All accidental chemical spills should be reported to DECC and HM Coastguard using a PON 1. Guidance on the use and completion of the PON1 is available on the DECC website. Note that there is a separate box on the revised PON1 for chemical spills.

A decision on whether to report a spill as an oil spill or chemical spill can be made depending on whether the substance spilt has been permitted under the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002 (e.g. drilling fluids), in which case it should be reported as a chemical spill, or not (e.g. reservoir hydrocarbons, lube oils, diesel etc.), in which case it should be reported as an oil spill.

When the spill is large/significant/ongoing then the earliest possible notification is required as per the PON1 guidance. Where only a small spill has occurred, a fax report is required, and this should be submitted within 6 hours of the spill.

Where there is a risk of significant pollution from a chemical spill incident, DECC will inform the Secretary of State Representative (SOSREP). The SOSREP has powers of intervention and may issue directions to contain or remove the pollution risk. If any directions issued have not been effective, the SOSREP can take any further action he feels necessary, including sinking or destroying all or part of an offshore installation or taking control of the installation.

Unscheduled operational discharge of chemicals or a discharge that is not undertaken in accordance with the conditions detailed in the permit application or a discharge that is undertaken for the purpose of securing the safety of any person (force majeure), should not be reported on the PON1. 

In these cases, the DECC Permit Condition non-compliance Notification Form is to be used for reporting any identified non-compliances against Chemical Permit Conditions issued under the provisions of the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002.

Monitoring or sampling requirements may be imposed in the event of a major spill.

See Performance Standards for more information on the requirements of the PON1 reporting.

See Above

Under the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002 it is an offence to discharge chemicals above the permitted quantities or type of chemical. Any chemical excursion must be reported to DECC. 

Variations to chemical permits should be made before exceeding permit limits. Emergency approval of chemical use and/or discharge can be obtained out of normal office hours by contacting the DECC Duty Officer – ask to be connected to the On-Call Response Officer (Offshore Environmental Inspectorate). Guidance on emergency approval can be found in the Additional Guidance on Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002.

The Environmental Liability Directive was adopted in 2004 and was required to be implemented by 30 April 2007.  The Directive enforces strict liability for prevention and remediation of environmental damage to ‘biodiversity’, water and land from specified activities and remediation of environmental damage for all other activities through fault or negligence. 

DEFRA undertook a consultation on draft Regulations and guidance on UK implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/EC. Further information on implementation of the Directive can be found on the DEFRA website.

Scottish Government has launched a 2nd Consultation on implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive. Closing Date for Responses 8 August 2008.

OSPAR

OSPAR has introduced guidance for confidentiality when introducing the Harmonised Mandatory Control Scheme relating to chemical use.