Offshore Structures

Illegal discharge from offshore structures - The ignored problem

In the “Special Areas” including the North Sea there are hundreds of offshore structures already operating and it is doubtful whether all oil spills are correctly reported. This has been evident on several occasions, where airplanes equipped with airborne surveillance equipment have observed an offshore structure at the time of a significant discharge of oil. The differences between the amount measured by the airplane and the amount reported from the offshore structure often result in cleanup action based on incorrect or non-objective information, which results in inefficient action taken.

Illegal discharge from offshore structure

The The problem of illegal discharge from offshore structures is growing as:

Growing exploration activity to compensate for depleting production volumes.
More marginal field developments producing lower oil to water ratios increasing the amount of production water to be discharged.
Increased exploration activity within sensitive marine areas.
Difficult manual recognition of spills requires new methods and technologies.

The OSIS sensor for offshore structures supports implementation of the MARPOL 73/78 annex 1 protocol on offshore structures in line with what is already implemented on vessels. The vast number of offshore structures operating within the “Special Areas” combined with the lack of efficient surveillance technology has so far caused exemption from the MARPOL 73/78 annex 1 directive.