Wednesday 19 January 2005

UKOOA Response to WWF Marine Health Check 2005

The UK Offshore Operators Association issued the following statement in response to WWFs Marine Health Check 2005:

"The offshore industry supports the concept of good stewardship of the marine environment and the adoption of a strategic approach to the management of Britains seas.  However, even if protected areas were to be established, there would be no reason to exclude activities such as oil and gas extraction, provided they continue to be properly controlled and managed with due care taken to protect species and habitats.

"According to OSPAR, the offshore oil and gas industry is not responsible for any of the six human pressures on the marine environment to which it gives a Class A (highest impact) grading.  Sound environmental practice lies at the very core of the offshore industrys operations today.  It operates within a strictly controlled, comprehensive environmental regulatory regime which governs all its activities from pre-licensing through exploration, development and, ultimately, decommissioning. 

"In addition, the industry has introduced self-imposed standards of practice and has made significant progress in its stewardship of the marine environment over the past thirty years, successfully reducing discharge volumes and oil spills.  The sector was also one of the first to respond to Government with a strategy for sustainable development encompassing the industrys environmental, social and business performance.

"The solution must lie in finding the correct balance between the need for sustainable social and economic goals and the desire to maintain healthy marine ecosystems.

Offshore oil and gas production is one of the UK economys most important sectors.  It accounts for over 85 per cent of the countrys primary energy needs and supports 260,000 jobs across the country.  It is the largest single investor of all industrial sectors in the UK economy, investing some £8.6 billion in 2003.  In recent years, the industry has represented some 17 per cent of total UK industrial investment while more than £195 billion in North Sea taxes have been paid to the UK Treasury since offshore activity first began in the mid-1960s."

Notes to Editors

1. The UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) is the representative organisation for companies licensed by the British Government to explore for and produce hydrocarbons in UK waters.  It has 30 members. 
2. OSPAR is an international convention drawn up in 1992 and which came into force in March 1998. It replaced the 1972 Oslo Convention (on dumping from ships) and the 1974 Paris Convention (on discharges from land) to protect the marine environment of the Northeast Atlantic from pollution. The Convention's main roles are to control disposal of all waste at sea and discharges from land. Including the EU, there are 16 contracting parties of which the UK is one.

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