Environmental effects of offshore produced water discharges evaluated for the Barents Sea

Abstract

This report presents (1) an overview of the ecotoxicological knowledge regarding offshore produced water (PW) discharges on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), (2) an overview of the ecological characteristics and values of the Barents Sea, and (3) an overview of the tools that presently are available for assessing the possible environmental risk associated with offshore PW discharges. The overall objective with this work is to provide a basis for discussing the need for a stricter environmental management of PW discharges in the Barents Sea in comparison to elsewhere at the NCS. Based on information presented herein there appear not to be a clear systematic pattern that organisms/systems in Barents Sea are significantly more sensitive to chemical contamination and ecotoxicity of PW compared to organisms/systems elsewhere at the NCS. However, there are still many unknowns in this field of study, as only a relatively small number of PW effect studies provide data for sensitivity comparisons of Barents Sea and non-Barents Sea organisms/systems.