§ 60 Discharge of produced water
Produced water shall be cleaned prior to discharge to sea.
The oil content in produced water discharged to sea, shall be as low as possible, cf. Chapter II of the Framework Regulations and Sections 7 and 8 of the Management Regulations. In any event, the oil content shall not exceed 30 mg oil per litre of water as a weighted average for one calendar month.
On facilities that discharge produced water, the operator shall perform environmental risk assessments of the discharges. These shall be performed as soon as possible after produced water is available. New risk assessments shall be performed in case of significant changes in the discharge or in any event minimum every five years. The Norwegian Environment Agency can set more explicit requirements to implementation and frequency of environmental risk assessments and discharge of produced water. Documentation associated with performed risk assessments shall be made available to the Norwegian Environment Agency upon request.
Water treatment systems shall be designed and operated such that the environmental strain from discharges to sea will be as low as possible also if the discharge limitations, cf. the second subsection, can be met with reduced treatment effect. The operator shall establish and maintain a best practice for operating and maintaining the processing system, comprising treatment units incorporated in the system on the individual facility.
The operator shall regularly assess possible technical solutions that can reduce the environmental strain from discharges of oily water. Documentation associated with such assessments shall be made available to the Norwegian Environment Agency upon request.
The operator shall take appropriate measures to limit potential damage to the external environment from oil pollution in cases where discharge of produced water involves visible oil on the sea surface. The obligation under this subsection applies to measures that are in reasonable proportion to the damage and inconvenience to be avoided.
The Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority can set additional requirements regarding discharges of produced water.
Section last changed:
01 February 2019