New methods and systematic environmental work mean that harmful discharges to the sea from Statoil fields will be reduced dramatically in the years ahead.
“Statoil has the same objective as the authorities – zero harmful discharges to the sea by 2005. New technology is the key to reaching this objective,” reports Henrik Carlsen, executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway.
He points out that Statoil has carried out extensive work for many years in order to arrive at appropriate solutions to reduce harmful discharges to the sea.
“We have developed a new system for calculating the precise environmental risk for each individual field," says Mr Carlsen. "This enables us to set our priorities based on costs and effect on the environment. Each project can thereby choose those measures that provide the best environmental value for money."
Snøhvit and Kristin represent a new generation of oil and gas fields, using efficient environmental solutions based on this method. The Snøhvit field will produce with zero harmful discharges to the sea. A closed industrial plant on land will clean the discharges before they are released to the sea.
Statoil has also worked systematically in order to reduce the environmental strain caused by discharges to the sea by phasing out the use of environmentally harmful chemicals. Since 1997 the group has reduced annual discharges of harmful chemicals by over 80 per cent – from almost 2,000 tonnes to around 350 tonnes.
“Today, 90 per cent of all chemicals we use are environmentally friendly,” says Mr Carlsen.
He stresses that a clean sea is a precondition for Statoil’s operations.
For more information see the presentation.