Environmental Aspects of Oil & Gas Law: UK & Saudi Arabia Comparison

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the environmental aspects of the oil and gas industry. It begins with an introduction to the industry's significance and its impact on business and environmental issues. The report then delves into the nature, causes, and burden of air and water pollution, including the specific impacts of oil and gas operations, such as drilling and refining. It further examines the environmental regulations in place, comparing the application of these regulations in the UK and Saudi Arabia. The report highlights the differences in environmental standards and enforcement between the two countries, offering insights into the challenges of environmental protection in the oil and gas sector. It concludes with a summary of the key findings and a discussion of the need for effective environmental policies and practices to mitigate the risks associated with the industry.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
Environmental Aspects of Oil & Gas Law (ODL) Assessment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Nature, Causes, and Burden of Air and Water Pollution.................................................................3
The causes of the environmental affects due to the oil and gas industry........................................5
Environmental impact of drilling for oil..........................................................................................6
Effects in the environment for boy pollution...................................................................................7
Environmental regulation................................................................................................................8
Comparison between the application of the regulation in the oil and gas industry of UK and
Saudi Arabia..................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................16

2ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
Environmental Aspects of Oil and Gas Law
Introduction
Oil industry plays a significant role in the society, which is one of the important sources
of fuel. It provides huge amount of energy resources to the whole mankind. The oil and gas
industry is one of the important resources, which affects on the business aspects and make the
impacts on the environmental issues. It helps to increase the business growth with a great
economical value but it has bad impacts due to the excessive use of the energy resources. It
affects on the environment, which create risk and hazards on the stages of the environmental
protection table. The environment get polluted through various ways, like wastewater, gas
emission, aerosols generated during drilling, solid waste, refining and production of various
chemicals, which are harmful for the health of the green world1.
On accordance with those issues, the water bodies and the marine world also affected
while the transportation of the oil from the seas. However, several environmental policies have
introduced in different countries, which helps to decrease the pollution levels but while in this
system, some countries failed to apply such policies for improving on the environmental issues2.
The risk operation concerns with those matters for minimizing the risk hazards in environmental
operation. In several United nations Environment Programs, the environmental situation has
been discussed about the risk factors in the presence of the chemicals and how it effective in the
environment3. Several legislations have been introduced for the prevention and controlling of the
1 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
2 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.
3 'Oil And Gas - Office For National Statistics' (Ons.gov.uk, 2017)
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/datasets/ukenvironmentalaccountsoilandgas> accessed
27 December 2017.

3ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
environmental risks. The oil and gas industry in UK produces almost 1.508 million bpd of oil
and 2.735tcf of gas per year, which is a significant number in the petroleum industry4. The
country has introduced several legislations, which makes impact of the control of the pollution.
In a recent research by the Meteorology and Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA), it has
been found that Saudi Arabia has a great business root of oil and gas industry, which has great
environmental impacts towards the ecological balance table5. However, there are various lacks in
maintaining the ecological balance in those countries6. It has been said that the Oil and Gas
industry is one of the major polluters in the world. While industrial countries maintain strict
environmental standards covering the oil and gas industry on both onshore and offshore7.
However, many developing countries either lack transparent and enforceable environmental
regulations, or effectively enforce them8.
Nature, Causes, and Burden of Air and Water Pollution
According to the environmental pollution, it causes health risks for the human world due
to the pollution of the air and water pollution. It is need to become aware for the developing
countries about the health risk, which causes due to the environmental pollution. Most of the
time, the air pollution caused due to the biomass burning of oil and the water pollution, which
caused for the poor sanitation at the household level of using excessive oil and gas. According to
the global evolution pollution hazards, the level of pollution is increasing every day, which
4 'Gas Statistics - GOV.UK' (Gov.uk, 2017) <https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gas-statistics> accessed 27
December 2017.
5 'Saudi Arabia - Oil And Gas | Export.Gov' (Export.gov, 2017) <https://www.export.gov/article?id=Saudi-Arabia-
oil-gas-machinery> accessed 27 December 2017.
6 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.
7 'Saudi Arabia - Oil And Gas | Export.Gov' (Export.gov, 2017) <https://www.export.gov/article?id=Saudi-Arabia-
oil-gas-machinery> accessed 27 December 2017.
8 Demirbas, Ayhan, Hemaid Alsulami, and Abdul-Sattar Nizami. "The natural gas potential of Saudi Arabia."
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38.18 (2016): 2635-2642.

4ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
caused infectious diseases related to drinking water, sanitation, and food hygiene; respiratory
diseases related to severe indoor air pollution from biomass burning; and vectorborne diseases
with a major environmental component, such as malaria. The World Health Organization has
published a report where it shows that the 0.6 to 1.4 percent of the burden of disease in
developing regions is mostly occur due to the oil, air and water pollution9. Under the UK
government, the environment management process on the control of the environmental risks, this
helps to demonstrate the pollution harm level in the nature. However, The European Union
Emission Trading Scheme (EUETS) research on the after effect of the use of oil and gas, which
showed that it caused an excessive emission of the carbon dioxide and effects on the climate
changing10.
Saudi Arabia provides one of the best oil and gas industries, which produces almost 11.6
million barrels of oil per day11. They have the largest petroleum production system in the world.
The Saudi Aramco mainly controls their oil and gas industry by the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of
Petroleum and Mineral Resource and the Supreme Council for Petroleum and Minerals. In this
country, the government has implemented huge transformations throughout their economic,
social and environmental issues12. However, in recent research, it has found that the bulk of
Saudi Arabia’s environmental pollution is caused because of CO2 emission, which has increased
more rapidly over the past years than waste by-products13. The emissions of house hold or
9 'World Health Organization' (World Health Organization, 2017) <http://www.who.int/en/> accessed 27 December
2017.
10 Demirbas, Ayhan, Hemaid Alsulami, and Abdul-Sattar Nizami. "The natural gas potential of Saudi Arabia."
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38.18 (2016): 2635-2642.
11 'Oil And Gas Production Statistics 2015 And 2015/16 - GOV.UK' (Gov.uk, 2017)
<https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-gas-production-statistics-2015-and-201516> accessed 27
December 2017.
12 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.
13 'Saudi Arabia - Oil And Gas | Export.Gov' (Export.gov, 2017) <https://www.export.gov/article?id=Saudi-Arabia-
oil-gas-machinery> accessed 27 December 2017.

5ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
municipal, industry based and medical wastes has increased rapidly which caused CO2
emissions14. A vast petroleum reservation is the only reason of great economic growth in Saudi
Arabia but in this Desert Kingdom, the citizens are facing such harmful diseases due to the
excessive use of the petroleum sector. The Meteorology and Environmental Protection Agency
(MEPA) controls the environmental issues in Saudi Arabia. Most of the air pollution occurred
due to the presence of the sulfur dioxide, inhalable particulates, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon
monoxide and hydrogen sulfide, among other pollutants15. The Energy’s Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC) has analysis the environmental reports of the Saudi
Arabia where they have mentioned about the production of the carbon dioxide, which increased
21.1 metric tonnes per person in every year. Saudi Arabia ranked 11th in the world in 2010 for
total CO emissions from natural gas flaring and fossil fuel burning, with China, the US and India
ranked in the first, second and third places16.
The causes of the environmental affects due to the oil and gas industry
In the oil and gas industry, the oil is referees as the petroleum or crude oil, which formed
through the combination of the liquid, gas, and sticky, tar-like substances whish are mainly uses
as fuel. Most of the oil and gas are consists of carbon which creates several disadvantages for the
environment17. The oil and natural gas has formed due to several biological matters and the
hydrocarbons, which is the mixtures of molecules of hydrogen and carbon, methane gas and
trapped in the rock. The petroleum is formed from the small packet of liquid gases which are
14 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42
15 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
16 Demirbas, Ayhan, Hemaid Alsulami, and Abdul-Sattar Nizami. "The natural gas potential of Saudi Arabia."
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38.18 (2016): 2635-2642.
17 Benson, Sally M. "CO2Storage Preface." Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations-
Results from the CO2 Capture Project: Vol 2-Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification
(2015): 663.

6ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
found trapped been the rocks18. The crude oil is used for manufacture gasoline and
petrochemicals, which are the production of plastics pharmaceuticals and cleaning products19.
Environmental impact of drilling for oil
 Most after Oil Companies pumps the liquid oil from the grounds by drilling Rig and
wells. According to the oil resources in the rock layers the oil fills and through the water.
It spreading through the open space and collect on a giant pool of liquid. In this process,
the dealers need to extend or relocate the ways after the immediate areas has been
emptied. Most of the oil drilling rigs collect the oil from the sea floor and it bill to Excess
oil reserves in deeper water20.
 Refining Petroleum creates air pollution while cruel oil transferred into the
petrochemicals. While transforming the crude oil it releases toxins, which mixed with the
atmosphere and create dangerous diseases for the human and the ecosystem21.
 At the time of burning gasoline, release is CO2 to reach not produced by the oil directly
but it is the equal amount of CO2 while burning the coal. It affect on the greenhouse gases
to the atmosphere and increases global warming.
 Oil spills causes great environmental damage while drilling transport and use of the
Natural sources.
 The natural gas is clean burning full sources but it is the main cause of produce half of
the carbon dioxide emission and causes global warming. The natural gas is separate from
18 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.
19 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
20 'Oil And Gas Production Statistics 2015 And 2015/16 - GOV.UK' (Gov.uk, 2017)
<https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-gas-production-statistics-2015-and-201516> accessed 27
December 2017.
21 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.

7ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
Petroleum, which is releases from the rocks, and captures it for using as fuel through a
process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
 In this process, the natural gas needs to inject by a liquid mix of chemicals sand and
water with a super high pressures, which helps to crack for open the rock and released the
trapped gases in this process. The sand and chemicals, which are left behind22, went to the
ground water, create pollution, and became less stable bedrock23.
Effects in the environment for boy pollution
 The environment is polluted mainly through air and water, which causes the global
warming around the world and reduce of greenhouse gas emissions.
 According to the location, the environment is become polluted and affected by the
diseases. The rising sea levels, draught or major storm all causes due to the extreme
weather.
 Due to the Global Warming, climate gets warm and changes the weather, which become
more frequent. Snowfall is one of the reasons of the extreme bad weather24.
 The melting of ice at the Arctic poles is one of the harmful effects of the greenhouse
emission. The polar ice reflects on sunlight and if its heat when it melts and the heat
states in the atmosphere.
22 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
23 Benson, Sally M. "CO2Storage Preface." Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations-
Results from the CO2 Capture Project: Vol 2-Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification
(2015): 663.
24 Demirbas, Ayhan, Hemaid Alsulami, and Abdul-Sattar Nizami. "The natural gas potential of Saudi Arabia."
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38.18 (2016): 2635-2642.

8ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
 The melting of the Greenland and western Antarctica Shades ice sheets threatens an
extreme rise in sea levels. It warns the ocean’s wild life, which is expanding and causing
sea levels to rise and kill the coral reefs and essential seafood chain system25.
Environmental regulation
According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) the
environmental protection is one of the major issues, which are, need to be measured through a
perfect regulatory system26. The perfect measure of regulatory framework helps to found and
minimize the pollution. The regulatory framework also helps to control the consistency of the
application throughout the whole country. However, the legislative parts are derived from the
legislative framework of the European Union27. UK has adopted the concept of the legislative
framework from the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of
the North East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention)28. The regulatory framework has been
implemented through the OSPAR decisions and recommendations29. For the offshore
environmental protection helps on the oil and gas development throughout its life cycle, from the
initial license application to the final decommissioning of facilities. It potentially influences the
environment, which is control through a particular consents or authorizations. There is also an
25 AlYahya, Sulaiman, and Mohammad A. Irfan. "The techno-economic potential of Saudi Arabia׳ s solar industry."
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 55 (2016): 697-702.
26 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
27 Benson, Sally M. "CO2Storage Preface." Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations-
Results from the CO2 Capture Project: Vol 2-Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification
(2015): 663.
28 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.
29 'Oil And Gas Production Statistics 2015 And 2015/16 - GOV.UK' (Gov.uk, 2017)
<https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-gas-production-statistics-2015-and-201516> accessed 27
December 2017.0

9ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
inspection and enforcement regime in place to confirm compliance with the conditions included
in the environmental approvals30. The UK legislations are:
 Clean Air Act 1968
 Clean Air Act 1993
 Clean Neighborhoods and Environment Act 2005
 Climate Change Act 2008
 Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006
 Energy Act 2010
 Environment Act 1995
 Environmental Protection Act 1990
The regulatory framework of UK and Saudi Arabia is completely different from each other.
The President of Meteorology and Environment (PME) is the new and developed version of the
Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA), which is actively worked with the
environmental issues in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, PME has several limitations
where they failed to apply the regulation31. These include:
 Environmental pollution assessment, surveys and control
 Establishment of environmental regulations and standards
30 Alshehry, Atef Saad, and Mounir Belloumi. "Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic
growth: The case of Saudi Arabia." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41 (2015): 237-247.
31 Benson, Sally M. "CO2Storage Preface." Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations-
Results from the CO2 Capture Project: Vol 2-Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification
(2015): 663.

10ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
 Providing recommendations on practical measures for emergency situations in
environment
 working on the development of the regulatory framework
 Formation and preparation of the environmental, climatological and meteorological
analyses, forecasts and bulletins32
The legislations, which are applicable in the Saudi Arabia, are listed below:
 Rules for Implementation (28 Rajab 1422 H) 10/15/2001
 Public Environmental Law (Royal Decree No. M/34) 10/2001
 Resolution No. 1/1/4/5/1/924 Implementing Requirements under the Public
Environmental Law
 Ambient Air Standard 2012 3/24/2012 Standard on Emissions from Mobile Sources
2012 3/24/2012
 Water/Wastewater National Ambient Water Quality Standard of 2012 3/24/2012
 Wastewater Discharge Standard of 2012 3/24/2012
 Technical Guideline of 2012 on the Prevention of Major Accidents 3/24/2012
The government of the Saudi Arabia has different legislations, which are applicable in
particular, states but they have some common facts, which helps to application of the regulatory
framework33.
32 AlYahya, Sulaiman, and Mohammad A. Irfan. "The techno-economic potential of Saudi Arabia׳ s solar industry."
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 55 (2016): 697-702.
33 'Saudi Arabia - Oil And Gas | Export.Gov' (Export.gov, 2017) <https://www.export.gov/article?id=Saudi-Arabia-
oil-gas-machinery> accessed 27 December 2017.

11ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL & GAS LAW (ODL) ASSESSMENT
 The Competency Agent, which is control by the Presidency of Meteorology and
Environment (PME) or Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration
(MEPA)
 the regulations which are implemented by the General Environmental Regulations34
 The competent minister which s controlled and regulated by the Minister of Defense and
Aviation and Inspector General
 The public agency is regulated by the ministry or government institutions
 The Licensing Agency and Concerned Agency who are work on the environment–related
project and negative impact on the environment
 The Environment and Environmental Protection works on the land, water and air, which
are the natural sources. They also work on the prevention and preservation of the natural
resources35.
 The Environmental Disaster works on the issues which damage the environment and
other pollution accidents
 The Environmental standards, quality and criteria works on the limitation, percentage,
standards, quality and the specification in environment36.
The regulatory frameworks have set their aim to achieve on the implementation, which
help to control the pollution on the environment, which is causing for the excessive
emissions of the Carbon dioxide and Methane. Saudi Arabia is one the developing country
which economic growth is completely depends on the oil and gas industry but there are
34 Demirbas, Ayhan, Hemaid Alsulami, and Abdul-Sattar Nizami. "The natural gas potential of Saudi Arabia."
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38.18 (2016): 2635-2642.
35 Benson, Sally M. "CO2Storage Preface." Carbon Dioxide Capture for Storage in Deep Geologic Formations-
Results from the CO2 Capture Project: Vol 2-Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide with Monitoring and Verification
(2015): 663.
36 Mitchell, John V., and Beth Mitchell. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry." Energy Policy 64 (2014): 36-
42.