Environmental Report 2023

SEAPOP, derived from the English term, seabird populations, was started in 2005 and is an integrated and long-term monitoring and mapping program for Norwegian seabirds. The program acquires and maintains fundamental knowledge about the seabirds which contributes to a better management of these marine environments.

SEAPOP´s work is organised and carried out by personnel from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NP). Up to now, the program has been financed jointly by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, and Offshore Norge.

SEAPOP carries out detailed mapping of the presence of nesting, resting and overwintering seabirds along the entire Norwegian coastline and in Svalbard, closely monitoring several key locations.

SEATRACK is a project under SEAPOP and was started in 2014. The purpose of the project is to increase knowledge of the presence of seabirds in the North-East Atlantic outside of the nesting season. Many species migrate extensively during the winter season, covering large areas in search of food.

Nest loggers or GPS devices are attached to the birds whilst they are in their nesting colony during the summer. When they return to their nesting colony the following year, the loggers are collected and the data are analyzed. The project is carried out in collaboration with several other countries.

SEATRACK is now in its third phase. Phases 1 and 2 were financed by actively involved research institutions, the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Norwegian Coastal Administration and the industry (Offshore Norge and 6 – 8 operators). In Phase 3, offshore wind operators are also contributing financially, and a total of 17 industry partners are represented (including Offshore Norge).

Environmental risk assessments are an important part of the operators´ safety work, helping to identify which activities, time of year and environmental elements contribute to the highest risk for an exploration well or producing field. The results form a basis from which to assess the most effective measures to prevent potential consequences. These can be both preventive measures designed to stop acute spills, and consequence-reducing measures such as oil spill preparedness.

ERA Acute is the recommended methodology for environmental risk assessments for NCS activities. It can also be applied internationally and has the capacity to handle various levels of detail, depending on the data available. The analyses are built up step by step, and guidelines have been developed for best practice so that the analyses use the best possible input data and are carried out comparatively.

Specific software has been developed for ERA Acute, and this is managed on behalf of the operators by Offshore Norge.

Continuous improvements are underway on both the model and the data platform, and include the following initiatives:

• Annual quality control of models and tools applied in the industry´s analyses of environmental risk and need for preparedness in the event of acute spills. The work is carried out by central institutions and encompasses the updating of meteorological and oceanographic tide data. In 2022, it also included updating the data set used to map the presence of seals.
• ERA Acute Marginal Ice Zone Project/dynamic data
  This project is funded by the Research Council of Norway, having started in 2018 and scheduled for completion in Q2 2023. It is a two-part project, firstly paving the way for the use of high-resolution data for selected valued ecosystem components (VEC) in ERA Acute analyses, and secondly developing a methodology to calculate the environmental risk or impact in a simplified way for the ice zone (Marginal Ice Zone) as an independent VEC habitat of ecological importance.
  The industry partners in this project are Equinor, Lundin (now Aker BP), OMW, WintershallDea and Offshore Norge.
• Development project for seabirds
  This project aims for a better understanding of acute oil spill consequences for species and stocks of seabirds in decline. The work is carried out collaboratively with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

The lesser sand eel is considered a key species in the North Sea ecosystem. More extensive knowledge has been found necessary on the lesser sand eel in order to improve environmental risk assessments in the event of various types of spills. KnowSandeel is a collaborative project between the petroleum industry and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, aimed at improving the understanding of the lesser sand eel´s vulnerability towards human activities.

SYMBIOSES is a research project which has been underway for over ten years, in which the first phases were funded by the Research Council and operators on the NCS. The project participants include the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, SINTEF, the University of Oslo and several research institutions both nationally and internationally. The project is led by the Norwegian Akvaplan-Niva research institution, which is one of the largest marine research institutes in Norway.

Phase III of the project was funded by a group of operators and completed in 2022. The phase modelled the effect of acute oil spills on six different types of fish with differing life cycles and stock varieties. The modelling was carried out on several different spill locations, and with various limits for mortality. The results were presented to various forums working on the integrated ocean management plan, and the report is available at Symbioses.no.

The petroleum industry has a keen focus on minimizing methane emissions to air. There are several different technical systems and instruments used to detect methane emissions from the production and transport of oil and gas. Technical systems used to detect subsea methane leaks are, however, limited. Offshore Norge commissioned Carbon Limits to carry out a study entitled “Overview of subsea methane emissions detection and quantification technologies” to highlight the issue.