Environment
Our goal of achieving no damage to the environment guides our actions. We place the utmost importance on managing the environmental impacts of all our activities.
Our health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) policy sets out our expectations for HSSE performance in our operations. In Angola, our principal operations are located offshore, more than 100 kilometres from centres of population.
Potential environmental impacts from our activities fall mainly in the following areas:
- Potential environmental impacts from our activities fall mainly in the following areas:
- Air emissions: BP Angola has been extremely successful in reducing its emissions and we reported large reduction over the last few years and in 2018 achieved record high Green-house gas emission reduction with 824 ktCO2e emissions avoided. We achieved this through a One Team effort and managed to reduced Greater Plutonio FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading vessel) flare by changing the mode of operation.
- Waste generation, management and disposal: Hazardous and non-hazardous waste is produced from FPSO operations, drilling rigs and onshore logistics sites.
- Operational discharges: These include drill cuttings generated when we drill into the seabed to construct a well. These cuttings are sent onshore for treatment. The main discharges from the FPSOs are produced water, slops and sanitary waste.
- Accidental spills: If an incident occurs and oil or chemicals are released to the environment, they have the potential to pollute the waters and land, affecting flora and fauna as well as users who depend on these resources.
Taking a systematic approach We operate an environmental management system which meets the requirements of the international standard ISO 14001. This provides a systematic approach to managing environmental impacts and minimizing them wherever possible. We have mapped the system elements against the requirements of our operating management system to check they remain suitable, adequate, and effective.
Complying with legislation Our compliance management system is an important tool in our drive to achieve safe, reliable and compliant operations. It enables us to identify relevant legislation, assess its applicability, examine controls and assign actions. For new projects, we carry out environmental impact assessments to assess potential impacts and define mitigation measures.
BP Angola journey to lower carbon future in Angola
Since Greater Plutonio came onstream in 2007, the absence of a gas export and commercial route at the time meant a lot of produced gas was flared. A multi-discipline team was set-up to tackle the issue and in few months we improved our flow metering to get better well and system performance data.