EIA as an Integrated Management Tool: Case Study

Brunei Shell Petroleum, as a major operator for exploration and production of oil and gas in the country, has a policy to give the highest regard to the protection of the environment. Minimisation of environmental impact throughout the life of a project, from inception to abandonment, is a requirement of this policy. As a tool Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is performed before entering new projects and major modifications to existing facilities. The process of an EIA can be broken into four major stages with feedback or corrective loops during the planning and execution of the activity, and after closeout of the project. The flow of environmental and business activities is fully integrated, (Figure 1). Firstly the Environmental Profile and the Technical Profile of an activity need to be identified. A Preliminary EIA is prepared from this information. The second stage is Activity Planning that includes an environmental management programme to help achieve the environmental objectives. The Preliminary EIA is then converted to a full document EIA and is used as a standard in the plan. The EIA is part of the activity plan and is fully integrated in making business decision. The execution of the activity includes the monitoring and recording of environmental parameter as required by the EIA. The information is used to update the Environment Profile of the area. To ensure the usefulness of the EIA for similar areas in the future a post-activity review of the recommendations is carried out and the learning points recorded. In developing this concept an onshore 3D seismic survey performed in 1992 was used as a case study. The survey area consists mainly of dipterocarp and other forest types. Investigation of the environmental profile revealed sensitivities such as permanent research plots, forest reserves and recreation areas, town and housing vicinity and a shooting range. An in house EIA was performed and applied at the contracting, planning, execution, the close out of the project and after project completion. The EIA provided a number of options for the different sensitive areas thus allowing the least environmentally problematic method with specific requirements to be selected. The EIA report was used as a guidance to prepare the seismic service contract. In turn all the recommendations were cascaded to the contractors' management and operational plans. Throughout the project, the EIA recommendations were utilised to measure the environmental performance of the activity. Feedback on operability of a few of the EIA recommendations was noted and new recommendations formulated. The EIA was used as standards in two audits and several management site visits. A post mortem was held at the end of the project. Monitoring of revegetation of several selected paths is ongoing with an objective to prove some assumptions made in the EIA such as minimum width of path and diameter of trees to be cut. The survey was completed with good environmental performance. P. 705^