Chemicals - Production

• Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999
• Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002
• Offshore Chemicals (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (pdf file)

A chemical permit is required for the use/discharge of any production chemicals used offshore.

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 notices.

The amendment regulations came into force on 30 March 2011 and clarify the status of accidental releases and the reporting procedure for PON1s. See Pending Legislation for a description of key changes to the legislation.

• EC Regulation 1907/2006 (REACH) as amended
• The REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.  REACH requirements will be phased in over a period of 11 years (see Performance Standards)

The EC REACH Regulations are directly applicable in the UK, however the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 provide the regulatory framework for REACH in the UK. The UK REACH Regulations apply to all offshore installations but not ships. DECC has issued an Advisory Note on Offshore Application of REACH.

• Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic 1992 (OSPAR Convention)
• OSPAR Guidelines for Completing the Harmonised Offshore Chemical Notification Format (HOCNF).
• OSPAR Recommendation 2006/3 on Environmental Goals for the Discharge by the Offshore Industry of Chemicals that Are, or Which Contain Substances Identified as Candidates for Substitution (see Pending Legislation)
• OSPAR Recommendation 2005/2 on Environmental Goals for the Discharge by the Offshore Industry of Chemicals that Are, or Contain Added Substances, Listed in the OSPAR 2004 List of Chemicals for Priority Action (see Pending Legislation)
• OSPAR Recommendation 2000/2 on a harmonised mandatory control system for the use and reduction of the discharge of offshore chemicals as amended by OSPAR Decision 2005/1
• OSPAR Recommendation 2010/3 on a Harmonised Offshore Chemical Notification Format (HOCNF)
• OSPAR Recommendation 2010/4 on a Harmonised Pre-Screening Scheme for Offshore Chemicals
• OSPAR Guidelines (2010-5) for Completing the HOCNF
• Previous Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme (OCNS)

• EC Regulation 850/2004 on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• The Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007

These Regulations control the production and use of certain persistant organic pollutants (e.g. PCBs and PAHs). Requirements include controls on use and waste handling/disposal of products containing such components. Controls on use/discharge will be managed through the existing CEFAS registration scheme under the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002.

• DECC Guidance Notes on the Offshore Chemicals Regulations (March 2011)

Note: revisions to these new guidance notes are not yet incorporated in this website, and will be included at the next quarterly review.

• DECC Advisory Note on Offshore Application of REACH (February 2011 - Version 5)
• REACH Guidance available on ECHA Website
• In addition, the HSE has a very comprehensive website providing guidance on REACH - the website is accessible from: http://www.hse.gov.uk/reach/index.htm.

A chemical permit under the Offshore Chemical Regulations 2002 (OCR 2002) is required for all production chemicals. All operational chemicals must be included in this permit, including:

• Chemicals used in the production of hydrocarbons;
• Water injection chemicals;
• Squeeze chemicals;
• Corrosion inhibitors and biocides;
• Chemicals used in semi-closed systems where there may be some discharge to sea e.g. hydraulic fluids in subsea control systems and corrosion inhibitors used within fire fighting drench systems, where applicable;
• Chemicals generated in-situ e.g. hypochlorite;
• Rig and turbine washes.

Chemicals used/discharged from workovers on platforms may also be included in the platform permit (PON15D). Alternatively a PON15F may be used (see Workovers).

Drilling chemicals either for drilling from the platform or chemicals introduced by a tieback from a MODU should be covered in the PON15B (see Drilling Chemicals).

A number of chemicals are exempt from OCR 2002 (see Performance Standards).  Guidance on OCR 2002 is available from DECC website (see Guidance Notes)

An application for the grant of a permit from DECC under regulation 4 is made in writing or by an electronic means of communication acceptable to the Secretary of State (PON15D). It shall contain -

(a) A description of the offshore source on or from which the offshore chemical is to be used or discharged, and the location of the offshore source in the relevant area;

(b) A description of the proposed technology and other techniques for preventing or, where this is not possible, reducing the use or discharge of the offshore chemical from the offshore source;

(c) A description of the measures planned to monitor the use or discharge of the offshore chemical; and

(d) An assessment of the risk of damage to the environment from the use and discharge of the offshore chemicals proposed.

The regulations allow for the acquisition of further information if that submitted is deemed insufficient or incorrect and for the gathering of evidence to verify any statements made.

Applications should be made using a PON15D application.

PON15 applications must be submitted to DECC via the UK Oil Portal. Any variations must be submitted in the same way. 

Operators will need to be registered with DECC for access to the Portal.

To set up a UK Oil Portal Account, contact the DECC OED Environmental Management Team at ukop@decc.gsi.gov.uk

Any problems with PON15 submission contact the DECC OED EMT by email at emt@decc.gsi.gov.uk

A period of at least 3 months should be allowed for submission and approval of a first PON15D as a period of public consultation of at least 28 days is included in the approval process. There will be a requirement for public notification for the initial platform permit, where a variation has been refused or where DECC directs that publication should occur at the time of a permit review. In all other cases, there will be no public consultation requirement. Publication of the notice will be in the same newspapers that would be used for Environmental Statement notification. The notice will say from where a copy of the application may be obtained (i.e. from the applicant) and an address from where a copy of the application may be obtained (i.e. the address of the applicant). The period of public notice will be at least 28 days.

Applications for variations to permits do not require a period of public notice, but a lead time of at least 28 days should be allowed.

Operators will need to assess the risks to the environment, which might arise from their particular chemicals use and discharge. For some chemicals e.g. those on the OSPAR PLONOR list, assessment will be straightforward. Most, however, will require a formal process of risk assessment, such as can be done using CHARM software. In this process, the predicted environmental concentration (PEC), determined from a knowledge of individual substance or product chemistry and the conditions of use, is compared with the Predicted No-effect Concentration (PNEC) determined from toxicity tests conducted to agreed protocols. This allows more informed assessments of risk to local sensitivities to be made in particular use and/or discharge scenarios. The use of the CHARM model is compulsory for calculating the Hazard Quotient (HQ) but other risk assessment models may be used to calculate the Risk Quotient (RQ) provided comparability with CHARM could be demonstrated.

UK National Plan for the phase-out of substances identified as candidates for substitution - in line with OSPAR Recommendation 2006/3

The full text of the current UK National Plan for phase out can be found on the CEFAS website

OSPAR Recommendation 2006/3 requires that as soon as is practicable and not later than 1 January 2017, Contracting Parties to OSPAR should have phased out the discharge of offshore chemicals that are, or which contain substances, identified as candidates for substitution except for those chemicals where despite considerable efforts, it can be demonstrated that this is not feasible due to technical or safety reasons. Demonstration of those reasons should include a description of those efforts.

Having considered the requirements of OSPAR Recomendation 2006/3, the UK has decided to base its National Plan for the prioritisation of phase-out on the following criteria:

• Perceived difficulty of phase out;
• Securing the replacement of candidates for substitution in preference to eliminating operational discharges to the marine environment.
• Prioritisation based on the persistence, bioaccumlation and toxicological properties of the chemical.

The UK National Plan also incorporates justification of continued use and/or discharge as an additional element: for those substances where replacement and/or eliminating discharges to the marine environment is not currently feasible, offshore operators or their chemical suppliers will annually be required to:

• Confirm the efforts made to phase out the use and/or discharge of the candidates for substitution;
• Confirm the nature and timing of planned research and development studies or trials to supplement those efforts conform whether any measures have been taken to reduce the use and/or discahrge of the candidate for substitution; and
• Confirm the technical and/or safety issues that make it necessary to continue use and/or discharge of the candidate for substitution.

UK National Plan level criteria and interim target dates are (See the full text of the UK National Plan (pdf file) on the CEFAS website for definitions of persistence, bioaccumulating and toxicity):

• Level 1 (highest priority)
  • Organic substances that are highly persistent, bioaccumulating and toxic
  • Chemicals to be replaced; or discharges to the marine environment to be eliminated or continued use and/or discharge to be formally justified by end December 2010.
• Level 2
  • Moderately persistent, bioaccumulating and toxic or
  • Highly persistent and bioaccumulating; or
  • Highly persistent and toxic chemicals
  • To be replaced, or discharges to the marine environment eliinated, or continued use and/or discharge to be formally justified by end December 2012.
• Level 3
  • Moderately persistent and bioaccumulating; or
  • Moderately persistent and toxic; or
  • Bioaccumulating and toxic chemicals
  • To be repelaced, or discharges to the marine environment eliminated and/or discharge formally justified by end December 2014.
• Level 4 (lowest priority)
  • Highly persistent organic substances; or
  • Inorganic substances with toxicity <1mg/l
  • Chemicals to be replaced, or discharges to the marine environment eliminated, or continued use and/or discharge to be formally justified by end December 2016.

EC Regulation 1907/2006 (REACH)

REACH deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances.

The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced. The benefits of the REACH system will come gradually, as more and more substances are phased into REACH.

The HSE is the UK Competent Authority for REACH and is working closely with Defra plus other Government departments and Agencies on the policy / enforcement aspects. HSE enforces maritime Health and Safety Regulations which apply to offshore installations.

To ensure a consistent regime, the offshore enforcement of REACH will be carried out by those who are familiar with enforcement requirements in similar circumstances to that required by REACH. Therefore, HSE and DECC will enforce offshore the aspects of REACH relating to health / safety and environmental protection - using their respective onshore administrative procedures and offshore inspectors to check compliance with the relevant provisions. In this regard, DECC sits on the REACH Enforcement Liaison Group (established by the HSE) to ensure that a proportionate and consistent method of enforcement is adopted.

From an offshore environmental protection perspective, the OSPAR HMCS and REACH requirements will run in parallel, with the HMCS approach to controlling offshore chemicals being appropriately harmonised with the provisions of the EU Regulation.

Accordingly, the UK REACH Enforcement Regulations contain certain provisions from, and makes references to, the OCR so effectively OCR (and hence the HMCS) will be the mechanism for supporting the application of the environmental protection elements of REACH to offshore installations. It should, however, be noted that DECC’s regulatory regime for offshore chemicals does not extend to Scottish controlled waters and therefore, in so far as this area is concerned, REACH will be enforced by an authorised body (i.e. SEPA) on behalf of the Scottish Executive.

REACH provisions will be phased-in over 11 years. Companies can find explanations of REACH in the guidance documents and can address themselves to a number of helpdesks. Also see Guidance Notes.

Appendix 1 of the DECC Guidance Notes on Reach addresses Specific REACH issues pertaining to the offshore sector.

A Timetable of REACH Implementation is available on the DECC Website.

Routine monitoring of process streams and of the area around installations may be requested to confirm impact hypotheses and to check that the general health of the marine environment near platforms remains acceptably high. The operator will carry such monitoring and bear the cost.

The Regulator will undertake check monitoring. It will seek to confirm that routine monitoring is generating accurate returns. The costs of this monitoring will be recovered under the general fees charged for the scheme. Inspectors appointed under the Regulations may board any offshore installation at any reasonable time, or if significant pollution is suspected, at any time.

Where an inspector considers that any activity in relation to the use or discharge of an offshore chemical involves a serious and imminent risk of pollution, he may give such directions in relation to that activity (including a direction requiring the cessation of that activity), as he considers necessary to avoid or minimise the risk of pollution in question. 

Chemical Use and Discharge

Reports are made on the production chemicals spreadsheet available for download on the EEMS website. Reports need to cover:-

• The name and actual quantity of each chemical used; and
• The volumes of each chemical discharged into the marine environment.

As well as being used by DECC to check actual use and discharge of chemicals against the term permit, they will also be used towards compilation of the OSPAR returns, which Contracting Parties are obliged to make.

For certain problematic substances, such as those identified for substitution, the Department may require more frequent reporting. A condition in the permit will make this clear if necessary.

Annual Progress Reports on Substitution Chemicals

Annual reports are also required to DECC on progress made to replace and/or phase out chemicals included on the OSPAR List of Chemicals for Priority Action or have been identified as Candidates for Substitution.

A reporting template can be downloaded from the DECC website. Reporting includes summary of chemicals replaced, summary of chemicals still to be replaced and justification for continued use and/or discharge.

Chemical Use and Discharge

Reports need to be made electronically on the EEMS website after each well. 

DECC will use EEMS reports to cross check against permit conditions to ensure compliance. 

Annual Progress Reports on Substitution Chemicals

Reports need to be submitted to DECC Environmental Management Team by email to emt@decc.gsi.gov.uk

EEMS reports to be submitted 28 days after the end of each quarter reporting use/discharge of chemicals in that quarter.

Annual Progress Reports - end February for the preceding calendar year.

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.

Examples of these may include, but not be limited to: identified over use of chemicals or use and/or discharge of chemicals not included on the permit. In addition the form may be used to notify DECC of any other applicable notifications specifically as required by the chemical permit conditions as appropriate.

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 DECC Duty Officer - ask to be connected to the On-Call Response Office (Offshore Environmental Inspectorate). Guidance on emergency approval can be found in the Guidance Notes.

If a variation is not in place before the unpermitted use or discharge occurs, a non-compliance notification form should be submitted. It is an offence not to submit a non-compliance report if required.

At any reasonable time (or, in a situation which in his opinion may give rise to a risk of significant pollution to the environment as a result of the use or discharge from an offshore source of an offshore chemical, at any time) the inspector may board any offshore installation to undertake inspections and investigations.

The DECC Environmental Inspectorate Enforcement Policy sets out the general principles that Inspectors shall follow in relation to enforcement including prosecution.

DECC, if of the opinion that the OCR 2002 Regulations have been contravened, may issue an enforcement notice. This will specify the matters that constitute or are likely to constitute a contravention, steps required to rectify the matter and the time period within which these steps must be undertaken. If an enforcement notice is not addressed, DECC may take action itself and recover reasonable costs back from the operator.

If DECC is of the opinion that the operation of an offshore installation involves an imminent risk of serious pollution as a consequence of any discharge of chemical, DECC may serve a prohibition notice. This will specify the pollution risk, the steps required to remove it and the time period, and may withdraw a permit wholly or in part until the prohibition notice is withdrawn.

A person is guilty of an offence if he:

(a) Uses or discharges any offshore chemical in the relevant area without a permit;

(b) Uses or discharges any offshore chemical in breach of the terms of any condition attached to any permit;

(c) Is seen by an inspector to use or discharge of an offshore chemical that involves a serious and imminent risk of pollution;

(d) Fails to supply any information required to be supplied by virtue of the terms of any permit granted under these Regulations;

(e) Knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular where such a statement:

(i) Is made in connection with or for the purposes of, any application for a permit, the renewal of a permit or the variation of a permit; or

(ii) Is made for the purposes of satisfying any requirement under these Regulations for the supply of information to the Secretary of State or an inspector appointed pursuant to regulation 16;

(f) Willfully obstructs an inspector; or

(g) Without reasonable excuse fails to comply with an obligation imposed in pursuance of the regulations or prevents another person from complying with such a requirement.

Permits will be valid for the field life but must be reviewed and renewed every 3 years. An application for renewal of a permit must be made in writing or by means of electronic communication before, but no more than three months before, the expiry of the permit in question.

Renewals are submitted electronically on DECC UK Oil Portal from where they are reviewed and electronically approved.

PON15D review and renewal are undertaken by DECC over a 2-year rolling calendar. The timetable for the current rolling programme is available from the DECC website (Excel file).

Guidance on PON15D Reviews and the information required by DECC is available on the DECC website.

Applications need to be made to DECC for a variation in the terms and conditions of a permit. This would involve any change in the use and discharge of chemicals. All applications need to be considered by DECC and FRS (CEFAS when in England and Wales).

Where DECC determines that a variation applied for by an operator would not be a significant change, he may grant the application and vary the terms and conditions of the permit accordingly, provided he has consulted the appropriate consultation bodies.

Where DECC determines that the change would be a significant change they will refuse the application and serve a notice in writing on the applicant.

Variations will be dealt with by DECC as quickly as possible, but 28 days should be allowed for the assessment of any significant changes.

Permit holders applying for an emergency variation should telephone the DECC out of hours contact. These details will be passed to the DECC on-call Environmental Inspector who will contact the permit holder to further discuss the emergency variation request.

Following a review of the chemical permitting procedures, DECC now require that all emergency chemical variation requests are made in writing following the initial contact telephone call. The DECC on-call Environmental Inspector will email a data request by email, with completed questions returned by email. Following a review of the request a written response granting or approving the variation will be sent by return of email.

The applicant must subsequently formally vary the PON15 permit within 2 working days of the emergency contact.

For more information see DECC Environmental Alert 004/2009

Update - change to PON15 made after the application but before approval has been given.

Variation - change to PON15 made after approval has been given.

Application for a variation or update should be made by clearly amending the previously submitted PON15D via DECC portal.