The activities regulations § 60a

§ 60a Discharge of drainage water and other oily water

The operator can release oily drainage water and other oily waters to the sea after treatment. The operator must have a permit pursuant to Chapter 3 of the Pollution Control Act for the discharge of water from jetting operations.
The oil content in water as mentioned in the first subsection and 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 15 mg oil per litre of water as a weighted average for one calendar year and 30 mg oil per litre of water as a weighted average for one calendar month.
Treatment systems shall be operated such that the environmental strain from discharges to sea will be as low as possible.
Sections 62 to 66 apply to discharges of chemicals with drainage water and other oily water. Adding chemical residues or other waste to oily water discharged to the sea is not allowed.
Oily drainage water and other oily water that are not handled in accordance with the first to fourth subsections or injected in accordance with the permit, cf. Section 71, shall be collected and sent as waste to a legal waste facility. It is not allowed to add drainage water and other oily water to the production stream ashore.
The operator shall carry out comprehensive assessments to ensure that the best environmental solution for handling drainage water and other oily water is selected.
The Norwegian Environment Agency can set field specific requirements related to discharges of oily drainage water and other oily waters, cf. Chapter 3 of the Pollution Control Act (in Norwegian only).
Section last changed: 01 January 2025

The operator must obtain a permit from the Norwegian Environmental Agency for petroleum activities under Chapter 3 of the Pollution Control Act (in Norwegian only). Application for permit under the Pollution Control Act is subject to Chapter 36 of the Pollution Control Regulations (in Norwegian only), and a fee is fixed for the Environmental Agency’s processing relating to applications for permits pursuant to Chapter 39 of the Pollution Control Regulations (in Norwegian only).
The regulations’ general requirements for the petroleum activities on the continental shelf apply to all operators. The permits under the Pollution Control Act will normally contain conditions that are specific and adapted to each activity. Chapter 36 of the Pollution Control Regulations (in Norwegian only) gives further provisions on the processing of permits under the Pollution Control Act. The Norwegian Environment Agency has described further expectations for the content of applications and expected processing time in the Guidelines for applications regarding offshore petroleum activities: https://www.miljodirektoratet.no/ansvarsomrader/forurensning/petroleum/for-naringsliv/soknadsveileder-petroleum/. Chapter 39 of the Pollution Control Regulations (in Norwegian only) gives provisions for fees for work with permits.
From 1 January 2026, the following changes in Section 60a, second subsection, second sentence will enter into force: In any event, the oil content shall not exceed 15 mg oil per litre of water as weighted average for one calendar year. Reference is made to regulation amending the regulations relating to conducting petroleum activities (the Activities Regulations) of 18.12.2024 (in Norwegian only).
Oily drainage water means hosing-down water from the facility decks and rain water. Other oily water means all oily waters not regarded as drainage water, produced water and displacement water. Requirements for handling oil and chemical-containing water from clean-up and start-up of wells, are given in Section 69.
In connection with the ban on adding unused chemicals, including chemical residues and other waste in drainage water and other oily water to be discharged to sea pursuant to this section, reference is made to Section 66, second subsection, and to Chapter 22 of the Pollution Control Regulations (in Norwegian only).