Summary of OPPC Sampling Requirements
– Well Operations
| Discharge Type | Permitted Monthly Average Concentration of Dispersed Oil |
Sampling of Discharges | Quantification of Volume / Weight Discharged | Quantification of Dispersed Oil Discharged | Reporting |
| Drill cuttings contaminated with reservoir hydrocarbons – discharge (term permit): |
N/A | Samples of cuttings to be taken from a minimum of 5 sample points across the oil bearing reservoir so as to allow a representative and average oil content on cuttings to be calculated. |
Measure or calculate the total quantity (tonnes) of cuttings discharged while drilling through the oil bearing reservoir. |
Measure or calculate the total quantity (tonnes) of oil (reservoir hydrocarbon) discharged while drilling through the oil bearing reservoir. |
Report to be submitted at end of operation and completion of sample analyses. Report to DECC. |
| Drill cuttings contaminated with reservoir hydrocarbons – injection / re-injection: |
N/A | None | None | None | N/A |
| Well intervention discharges to sea (term permit): |
30 mg/l | Sampling strategy as agreed with DECC and detailed in permit schedule. |
Measure or calculate the volume of well intervention / well clean up fluids discharged to +/- 10% uncertainty on volume. |
Each dispersed oil analysis result (mg/l) shall be multiplied by the volume of the well intervention/well clean up fluid discharged from the time the sample for this analysis was taken until the next sample is taken.The weight of dispersed oil in well intervention / well clean up fluid from the beginning of the discharge to the time of the first sample shall be calculated by multiplying the volume of well intervention/well clean up fluid discharged during this period by the dispersed oil analysis result of the first sample. |
Report to be submitted at end of well intervention / well clean up operation. Report to DECC. |
| Well clean up operations (term permit): |
30 mg/l |