Environmental Report 2000 Index

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The Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in the UK Just over 25 years ago, on 18 June 1975, UK North Sea oil was first brought to land after six years of exploration and development. It was shipped from the small Argyll Field and brought ashore by tanker to BP's Isle of Grain refinery in Kent. Since then, the UK's Oil and Gas Industry has brought enormous benefits to our society and helped shape the way we live. Today, there are over 200 fields in production on the UK Continental Shelf - and production is at record levels. In 1998, 132.6 million tonnes of oil and 95 billion cubic metres of gas were produced. Since 1975, over 2 billion tonnes of oil and 1,381 billion cubic metres of gas have come ashore. The UK has benefited from tax revenues estimated at £160 billion in real terms since 1975, and to date the Industry has invested even more than that. We have consistently accounted for nearly a fifth of the UK's total annual industrial investment in recent years. However, these statistics do not really begin to convey the impact that the UK's Offshore Oil and Gas Industry has had on our lives. We have grown so used to having these natural resources that it has become very difficult to imagine what life would be like without them. Transportation, heating, lighting, the power to run industry and businesses and to make our homes comfortable are perhaps the most obvious ways in which we benefit from these energy resources. Given that secure, continuous, large-scale alternative energy sources are not currently available, it is clear that without the UK's reserves we would be dependent on imported oil and gas. This would have a significant detrimental impact on our economy. In fact, in 1998, the UK Oil and Gas Industry satisfied 96% of Britain's entire energy requirements. The Industry supports about 270,000 jobs in around 6,000 large and small businesses throughout the UK. Some 19,000 people are employed to work offshore. Not only are we self-sufficient in oil and gas at present, but the export of hydrocarbons contributes around £3 billion a year to the UK's balance of payments, further reducing the overall tax burden. The contribution that oil and gas make to our lives, the economy and employment are easy to see. What is often not recognised, however, is the broad range of benefits received from products made from oil. Without these, our society would be very different. Some examples in our everyday lives can be seen at school, where items such as crayons, ink and cartridges, glue, book coverings and binders help young people learn. In health care, oil products provide the coating for pills, binding agents for creams, disposable syringes and other medical equipment. At home, contact lenses, cosmetics, nail polish, deodorants, shampoo, paint, detergents for washing up and laundry and fabrics for clothing, upholstery and carpets come to us thanks to the oil industry. In the kitchen, non-stick pans, Clingfilm and storage containers help us cope with the pace of modern life. The building industry benefits from roofing tiles, pipes and insulating material, while in the office, computer hardware, telephones, fax machines, computer disks, pens, chairs and even printing ink have their sources in the oil Industry. Even our leisure time benefits, with CDs, video tapes, camera film, artists' paint, tyres, crash helmets, football boots, garden furniture, plant pots and fertilisers all derive from oil. As more emerging nations strive to achieve the standards of living enjoyed by the developed world, the worldwide demand for energy and oil products is growing steadily. However, this growth is accompanied by increasing concerns about the environmental impact of oil and gas production and consumption. Oil and gas companies fully recognise these concerns and accept that they have a responsibility to help shape the way people obtain and use fuel. We should not forget, however, that no human activity is without environmental impact. If we want the benefits of oil and gas production, we have to accept that there will be some associated impact - the key task is to balance minimum impact with maximum benefit. And as we have seen, there are many benefits, including some significant environmental gains. For example, increased utilisation of natural gas for power generation has already made a major contribution to reducing the UK's greenhouse gas emissions and enabled the UK to meet its Kyoto commitments. In addition, research undertaken by oil and gas companies is increasing our knowledge and understanding of the marine environment around our coasts and in the deepest waters of the UK Continental Shelf. More generally, the Industry believes that the right way forward is to work continuously for the safest, most efficient and most environmentally sound ways of obtaining and using oil and gas. Environmental management forms a key part of the decision-making process within our oil and gas companies. In addition, UKOOA members are working on a Sectoral Sustainability Strategy for the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. The strategy is aimed at making progress across what has become known as "The Triple Bottom Line", which comprises environmental, economic and social issues. As you will see from the section at the back of this report, our industry's environmental impact is relatively light and is being further reduced in some significant ways. These reductions, together with changes in the way that society uses fossil fuels (for example, the motor manufacturing industry's voluntary commitment to reduce CO1 emissions from new passenger cars by 25%), will help our society achieve the benefits of sustainable development. At the same time, these measures will help ensure that we continue to benefit fully from the natural resources we have available to us - including oil and gas.