the main points to be covered today address the...

AUTORITATEA COMPETENTĂ DE REGLEMENTARE A

OPERAŢIUNILOR PETROLIERE OFFSHORE LA MAREA NEAGRĂ

The main points to be covered today address the environment protection

➢ “zero discharge” concept

➢ Installations decommissioning – where this operation ends?

➢Use of dispersants – is this a valuable solution in the Black Sea?

Black Sea Oil & Gas Conference, Bucharest, October 2018



The Offshore Regulatory Authority in Romania

Role and strategy




SAFETY!

What is our understanding of this general term?

❑Protect the health of personnel

❑Preserve the environment

❑Protect the community




Our ROLE

To make sure the offshore oil & gas operations are

performed with no harm to people’s health, to the environment

and to the community




Our STRATEGY

To work together with the Operators and Rig Owners for achieving this

mutual goal of safe operations.

It is important to cover both the pro-active and reactive approach but, for us,

the pro-active approach is the one we address with priority.




Where are we now?

✓ Secondary legislation ready

✓ Cooperation Protocols in place with the responsible national authorities

✓ The first project completed with positive results – OMV Petrom

✓ Preparing for the second project – Black Sea Oil & Gas




“zero discharge” concept

The marine environment is a precious heritage that must be protected, preserved and, where practicable, restored with the ultimate aim of maintaining biodiversity and providing diverse and dynamic oceans and seas which are clean, healthy and productive.

The main components discharged to the sea are produced water, drill cuttings and residues of chemicals, and cement from drilling operations. Discharges of chemicals are largely related to drilling activities, and the amounts discharged vary with the activity level. Drill cuttings account for most of the volume of material discharged to the sea

There are three sources of emissions of environmentally harmful substances:

- environmentally harmful chemicals added during operational processes - environmentally harmful substances that are contaminants in chemicals - naturally occurring environmentally harmful substances in produced water




“zero discharge” concept (ctd)

Directive 2008/56/CE, transposed in the Romanian legislation through Government Ordinance no. 71/2010 regarding the strategy for the marine environment, requires every MS to take the adequate measures as to achieve or maintain a good ecological status of the marine environment, no later than year 2020 (art.1).

To achieve this general objective, all discharges of hazardous substances / mixtures and, with priority, those mentioned in Annex 2 to HG nr. 570/2016 regarding the Program of gradual elimination of discharges, emissions and loses of hazardous substances, must be prohibited.

The “zero discharge” requirement applied for all oil & gas operations performed onboard the offshore installations is an extremely important concept that will help achievement of the general objective of the Directive. Black Sea Oil & Gas Conference, Bucharest, October 2018



Installations decommissioning – where this operation ends?

The installation decommissioning starts when all the hazardous substances present onboard are removed from the

installation and ends when the installation is brought for scrapping in a certified recycling/scrapping facility onshore.

The environmental impact permits for decommissioning projects ask, among other mandatory requirements,

quantitative and qualitative monitoring of certain parameters, specific to the project, including a close traceability of

generated waste, including: type of waste coded as per HG 856/2002, quantities resulted , their final destination,

listing of all the subcontractors contracted for the treatment / elimination / recycling and the proof of their

authorization received from the Environmental Agency.




Installations decommissioning – where this operation ends? (ctd)

ACROPO , in conformity with its’ authority as per Law no.165/2016, assess and accepts

the Report on Major Hazards related to a major modification.

This implies the assessment of all the potential major hazards associated with the

decommissioning process until the installation is brought onshore, in an authorized

recycling facility, as per the provisions of Regulation UE nr.1257/2013.




Use of dispersants – is this a valuable solution for response to an oil spill in the Black Sea?


Advantages Disadvantages

Are used when the impact of floating spill isgreater than the impact of the spill dispersed intothe water column.

The dispersants diffuse the oil into the environment instead of removing it. The dispersants are used just to «hide» the oil spill, but the oil is not neutralized and will produce damages not immediately visible

Can be used, generally, in harsh weather conditions (wind and sea state) when other response methods (isolating the recovery of the spill) are more difficult to be applied

The dispersants are not efficient on all type of oil. Sometimes they cannot disperse high viscosity oil in cold waters

The risk of oil spill fire is lowered by dispersing the oil a couple of meters in the column of water

The dispersants create an underwater oily cloud with adverse effects to aquatic organisms

Greater surface covered Dispersion is not equally adequate, especially where the dilution and dispersing capablities are reduced. The dispersants should never be used in very shallow waters because the “oily cloud” or the oil spill enters in contact with the sea bottom and the bentic organisms, present in the mud and sediments, are exposed to high concentrations of dispersed oil. If it is used close to the shore and shallow waters, the chemical dispersion can increase the level of oil penetration into the sediments.



Use of dispersants – is this a valuable solution for response to an oil spill in the Black Sea? (ctd)

Taking in account all these above, the disadvantages of using the dispersants in an oil spill response are significant.By using the dispersants, there is no depollution, but a supplementary introduction of new hazardous substances to make the oil spill less visible

An unitary policy should start from MARPOL 73/78 provisions, which mention the special statute of the Back Sea and advice not using the dispersants for an oil spill response

Finally, I strongly believe that such kind of policy should be embraced by all countries around the Black Sea, whether they are MS or not.

At the end of the day, we all share the same seaBlack Sea Oil & Gas Conference, Bucharest, October 2018



Thank you!


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