ERA Acute - Validation of a new Environmental Risk Assessment methodology and development and validation of accompanying software tool

Environmental risk assessments (ERAs) of acute oil spills have been in use on the Norwegian continental shelf for the last decades to support decision makers in oil spill contingency planning and response (OSCR), and are mandatory in planning of new offshore activities. Thus, ERAs are essential in ensuring an overall high environmental protection performance for the petroleum industry. The oil and gas industry and ERA experts have in the last years agreed on the need for further improvement of current ERA methodologies, also stated in the Management plan for the Barents Sea and Lofoten area (2010-2011). To address the identified gap, a new and improved ERA methodology (ERA Acute) has recently been established by key Norwegian ERA experts, through an industry financed R&D project. Through the DEMO2000 project the following primary objectives were reached; 1. Validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the new ERA Acute methodology 2. Develop and validate an ERA software tool designed to apply the ERA Acute methodology The ERA Acute methodology is an improvement of existing ERA methodologies; including recent scientific research and offering a more detailed risk assessment, particularly valuable for smaller oil spills and sensitive areas, e.g. in Arctic areas. The methodology is applicable for global use, however, the ERA Acute methodology will be promoted as the new ERA industry standard on the NCS first. Through sensitivity studies and comparisons of the results with field data from spills and existing NCS standard, the method has been validated and found to be suitable for the purpose. The project has implemented the new methodology into a software tool. Further, the methodology and software tool are developed to perform net environmental benefit analysis (NEBAs) for assessing environmental consequences of alternative oil spill response measures, providing crucial documentation and decision support for OSCR. The main deliverables of the ERA Acute project are a validated improved ERA methodology and ERA software tool applying the methodology to perform ERAs.