The activities regulations § 65

§ 65 Choice of chemicals

Based on the environmental assessments required by Section 64, the operator shall select those chemicals that give the lowest risk of environmental harm. Chemicals in the black category, red category and the yellow sub categories 2 and 3, cf. Section 63, shall only be selected if they are necessary for technical or safety reasons, or it has been documented in special cases that application of these will result in the lowest risk for environmental harm.
The operator shall use chemicals with the lowest possible content of impurities.
The operator shall have separate plans for substitution of chemicals in the black category, red category and the yellow sub categories 2 and 3, cf. Section 63. The plans shall outline the chemicals that are prioritized for substitution and when this can be done.
Section last changed: 01 January 2018

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.
The duty to substitute chemicals which may harm health or the environment with less damaging alternatives, also follows from Section 3a on substitution duty in the Product Control Act (in Norwegian only).
Impurities as mentioned in the second subsection, mean, inter alia, heavy metals in weight materials.
Separate plans for substitution of chemicals in the red and black category, and the yellow category, subcategories 2 and 3, shall be reported annually to the Norwegian Environment Agency in accordance with Section 34, first subsection, litera c.