CONAMA RESOLUTION 393, August 8, 2007
Published in Official Gazette 153 on August 9, 2007, Section 1, pages 72-73
Correlations:
· Complements CONAMA Resolution 357/05 (art. 43, § 4)
Establishes provisions for the continuous release of processed water or water produced on oil and natural gas sea platforms and makes other provisions.
THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL – CONAMA, in accordance with the power bestowed upon the Council by art. 6, item II and art. 8, item VII of Law 6.938 from August 31, 1981, regulated by Decree 99.274 from June 6, 1990 and its alterations, and in accordance with its Internal Regulations and the contents of Process 02000.000344/2004-86, e
Considering Law 9.966 from April 28, 2000 which Establishes provisions for the prevention, control and inspection of pollution caused by oil releases and other hazardous or dangerous substances into waters under national jurisdiction;
Considering that art. 17, § 1 of Law 9.966 from 2000 establishes specific environmental regulations for continuous process or production releases by platforms;
Considering CONAMA Resolution 357 from March 17, 2005, which Establishes provisions regarding the classification of water bodies and environmental directives for their framework, as well as establishing effluent release conditions and standards, and makes other provisions;
Considering that art. 43, §4 of CONAMA Resolution 357 from March 17, 2005 establishes the continuous disposal of process or production waters by oil and natural gas maritime platforms will be the object of a specific Resolution;
Considering that the marine environment and its living organisms are of vital importance for humanity and that it is in everyone’s interest to safeguard the quality and quantity of marine resources;
Considering that the sea’s self-support capacity is not unlimited;
Considering that the health and wellbeing of human beings, as well as the balance of aquatic ecology, should not be affected by the deterioration of water quality;
Considering the pollution control is directly related to the safeguarding of health conditions and of an ecologically balance environment, and that we should take into account the priority usage and environmental quality classifications demanded for the care of a given water body;
Considering that oil and natural gas are responsible for a significant portion of the Brazilian energy matrix and that demand will be increased during the coming years;
Considering that about 80% of nationally produced oil is produced by maritime platforms located along the Brazilian coast; and
Considering the peculiarities and technical and technological limitations of platform oil and natural gas production processes and the treatment of their releases, decides:
Art. 1 This Resolution Regulates the continuous release of process or production water from maritime oil and natural gas platforms, establishes discharge standards for oil and greases, defined parameters for their monitoring and sets other relevant provisions.
Art. 2 The following definitions are adopted for all purposes of this Resolutions:
I – PROCESS OR PRODUCTION WATER OR PRODUCED WATER: is the water that is normally produced together with oil extraction and is, from now and onwards, denominated “produced water”;
II – ECOLOGICALLY FRAGILE AREA: maritime water areas, or inland water areas, defined through a Public Power act, where the prevention and control of pollution and the upholding of the ecological balance places special demands for the protection and the preservation of the environment;
III – RELEASE CONDITIONS: conditions and standards for the release of waters produced in the ocean;
IV – CONTINUOUS RELEASE: releases into the sea of waters produced during a process or activity in a permanent or intermittent manner;
V – ECOTOXICOLOGICAL TESTS: tests undertaken in order to determine the negative effects of physical or chemical agents upon different aquatic organisms;
VI – MONITORING: periodical measuring or verification of the parameters of produced water, in order to follow-up on the quality of the water of the receptor body;
VII – EMISSION STANDARD: maximum rate adopted as a normative requirement of a parameter related to the quality of water produced and released from platforms;
VIII – PLATFORM: installation or structure, fixed or mobile, located within waters under national jurisdiction, destined for direct or indirectly related to the research and harvesting of mineral resources from the floors or surfaces of inland waters bodies or from the sea, by a continental platform or its subsoil; and
IX – MIXING ZONE: location within the receptor water body where the initial dilution of effluents occurs.
Art. 3 The salt waters where the platforms are located will, as long as there is not a specific framework, be considered Class 1 Salt Waters, according to the definition included in CONAMA Resolution 357 from March 17, 2005.
Art. 4 Produced water may only be released, directly or indirectly, into the sea as long as it follows the specifications, standards and demands provisioned by this Resolution and as long as it does not subject the sea, in the area surrounding the release, to characteristics that differ from the framework class of the defined area, except within the mixing zone.
Single paragraph. For all purposes of this Resolution the mixing zone is limited to a radius of 500 meters from the release point.
Art. 5 The release of produced waters must comply with the monthly medium arithmetic concentration of oils and greases of up to 29 mg/L, and a maximum daily rate of 42 mg/L.
§ 1 The oil production industry must present a proposal to the National Environment Council (CONAMA), within one year, containing goals for the reduction of the amount of oil and wax that is contained in releases of produced waters.
§ 2 If the monthly rate that is foreseen in the heading of this article is exceeded the licensing environmental organ must be informed immediately after the finding and provided with a report, within 30 days, that provides specifications on the non-conformity with limitation provisions.
§ 3 Whenever the maximum daily rate determined in the heading of this article is exceeded it must be immediately communicated to the environmental organ.
Art. 6 The concentration of oils and greases that is the subject of art. 5 of this Resolution must be reached through gravimetric analysis.
§ 1 The environmental organ may accept other measurement methods and long as they possess a statistically significant correlation with gravimetric analysis.
§ 2 The monthly rate must be determined from daily sample measurements composed of four samples taken during standardized time periods and analysis may be undertaken at a later time provided the samples are still within their validity period.
Art. 7 The Competent environmental organ may authorize the release of waters above the specifications and standards set by this Resolution due to temporary operational contingencies and after the approval of the program and schedule presented by the entrepreneur for the solution of the problem.
Art. 8 The specifications and the possible release of waters produced by platforms located within twelve nautical miles from the coast will be defined by the competent environmental organ and based on dispersion studies presented by the entrepreneur, preferential flow is zero.
Art. 9 The release of produced waters within a radius of less than 10 kilometers from conservation units, and five kilometers from ecologically fragile areas, is banned.
Art. 10 Enterprises that operate platforms must, every six months, undertake the monitoring of produced waters that is discharged by their respective platforms in order to allow for the identification of the presence and concentration of the following parameters:
I – inorganic compounds: arsenic, barium, cadmium, chrome, copper, iron, mercury, manganese, nickel, lead, vanadium, zinc;
II – radium isotopes: radium-226 and radium-228;
III – organic compounds: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – PAHs, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes – BTEX, phenols and evaluation of total petroleum hydrocarbons – HTP through chromatographic profile;
IV – chronic toxicity of produced water determined through ecotoxicological standardized methods through the use of marine organisms;
V – complementing parameters: total of organic carbon (COT), pH, salinity, temperature and total ammoniacal nitrogen.
Single paragraph. At the time of the monitoring period that is the subject of the heading of this article samples should be taken, concomitantly, in order to determine the rates of oil and wax substances.
Art. 11 The methodology used for the collection of analysis is specified by scientifically acknowledged technical standards.
Art. 12 Enterprises that operate platforms must, until March 31st of each year, present a report of previous yearly activities including undertaken monitoring processes and the respective adopted methodologies in order to comply with the provisions set by articles 5 and 10.
Single paragraph. The report that is the subject of the heading of this article may contain information on one or several platforms, as the discretion of the competent environmental organ.
Art. 13 The reports presented by entrepreneurs mentioned in art. 12 will be archived and published by the licensing federal organ in the world wide web – Internet.
Art. 14 The standards for the release of compounds and radium isotopes mentioned in art. 10 will be the object of a specific resolution which will be forwarded to the CONAMA Plenary within one year from the date of publication of this Resolution.
Art. 15 Non-compliance with the provisions set by this Resolution will subject offenders to sanctions foreseen by current legislation.
Art. 16 This Resolution shall enter into effect on the date of its publication.
MARINA SILVA – Council President
This text does not substitute the text published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 9, 2007