Services and Solutions

• Overview
• Licensing Rounds
• Decommissioning Programmes and Scoping
• Environmental Impact Assessments and Statements
• Chemical Permits and Licensing Support
• Marine Growth Assessment
• Oil Spill Modelling
• Oil Pollution Emergency Plans (OPEP)
• Underwater Noise Assessments and Modelling
• Waste Management Services
• Nems Accounter

We are currently gearing up to provide our renowned high quality service to the forthcoming 29th Licensing Round, supporting applications for a Frontier License.

Applications must include an appended environmental report that demonstrates to the regulator that operators have a thorough understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic characteristic and limitation in, and immediately adjacent, to the block(s) of interest.

For the most recent offshore 28th licensing round, BMT Cordah authored environmental reports to support over 70 applications for numerous major operators. Summarising all the sensitive receptors and environmental constraints, these reports assisted the operators in the development of strategies for site suitability assessment and also to minimise environmental and socioeconomic impact. The reports included detail on the following topics:

• Annex I and II species and habitats;
• Fisheries statistics;
• Marine mammal species and concentration;
• Metocean conditions;
• Nursery and spawning grounds of economically important fish species; and
• Seabird sensitivities throughout the year.

The high standard of these reports contributed to the majority of applications successfully winning competitive licensing awards. The following clients were supported during this process:

• BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd;
• ConocoPhillips UK Ltd;
• Endeavour Energy UK Ltd;
• Ithaca Energy (UK) Ltd;
• Norwegian Energy Company ASA;
• Statoil ASA;
• Sterling Resources (UK) Ltd;
• Suncor Energy;
• Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd;
• Total E&P UK Ltd;
• Trap Oil Group PLC;
• Xcite Energy Resources Ltd.

A similar process is required for the licensing of onshore blocks on the UK mainland. BMT Cordah has supported operators in the provision of thorough environmental and socioeconomic baseline reports for 14th round applications.

Our extensive experience can and will be applied to the forthcoming 29th licensing round, supporting applications for Frontier Licenses such that all environmental and socioeconomic sensitivities and associated implications for exploration are understood. Frontier blocks represent areas which are untried and untested, introducing a high risk during investigation and exploration. BMT Cordah has in-house experience of these frotnier environments, with our staff having previously been involved with initial sampling and survey work conducted by the Scottish Government in support of providing baseline environmental information for the industry. These areas have included West of Shetland, the shelf edge and offshore as far as Rockall. Our involvement in the 28th licensing round included several block applications within frontier regions.

Our in-house expertise and proven track-record in producing these application documents not only ensures that all regulatory requirements are met, but also ensures a cost effective approach. Our comprehensive review of the environmental and socioeconomic conditions within the interest block(s) will ultimately provide the applicant (or client) with the information required to minimise risk and maximise return.