PON15E
THE OFFSHORE CHEMICALS REGULATIONS 2002 (THE CHEMICAL REGULATIONS)
PETROLEUM OPERATIONS NOTICE 15E
SEEKING A TERM PERMIT FOR THE USE AND
DISCHARGE OF CHEMICALS DURING DECOMMISSIONING OPERATIONS
DATA ON THIS FORM MAY BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC
The PON15E is an electronic form that permits the applicant to apply for a permit for the use and discharge of chemicals during decommissioning operations under the Chemical Regulations. Submission of an application for a chemical permit replaces the requirement to apply for a licence to discharge chemicals during decommissioning operations under the Food and Environment Protection Act (FEPA) 1985, Part II Deposits in the Sea.
The regulator and consultees will be automatically notified that the undertaker has submitted a completed PON15E form. At this point assessment of the application can begin. It is the responsibility of the undertaker to ensure that applications for other approvals or permits directly relating to the application e.g. discharge permits under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005, are submitted at the same time as the PON15E application, as appropriate.
Up-dates and variations to the PON15E can be made by revising the appropriate sections of the current PON15E. All the changes must be listed in the text box provided (submissions will be automatically compared with the original forms, to confirm that the list is complete). The regulator and consultees will be automatically notified that an up-date or variation has been submitted. Application up-dates will retain the same reference number, and will replace the previous submission. Requests for permit variations will be automatically assigned an amended reference number, by adding a suffix, e.g. /1, /2, /3 etc, to the original reference number.
The PON15E can be used to apply for a number of chemical permits relating to the decommissioning of the named facility or facilities, and details of further operations involving chemical use and/or discharge can be added to the form as the need arises. The procedure will be similar to that used to request a permit variation, but it will be necessary to revise relevant entries in Sections A – D inclusive, and to complete a new Section E.
Any queries relating to the PON15E form, or a specific application, should be addressed to:
Department of Energy and Climate Change
Offshore Environment and Decommissioning
Atholl House, 86-88 Guild Street
Aberdeen AB11 6AR
Tel: 01224 254045 or 254050
Fax: 01224 254019
e-mail:
Section A: GENERAL INFORMATION
Reference No:
Is this an application to up-date or vary an existing PON15EYes / No
(a variation will relate to an already determined application,
e.g. where a Chemical Permit has already been issued)?
Is this an application for a further Chemical Permit for a Yes / No
decommissioning operation that has already been the
subject of a Chemical Permit?
(New applications, including requests for further chemical permits, will be automatically assigned a unique reference number when the form is submitted to DECC. If the application relates to the variation of an existing permit, a suffix will be added to the original reference number when the amended form is submitted to DECC).
Name of undertaker
Contact name
AddressTel:
Fax:
E-mail:
OperatorQuadrantBlock No.
Block awarded in Round (No. of Round)
(If the subject of more than one award, enter the number of the latest round)
Is the proposed activity included in the Decommissioning Plan?Yes / No
If “Yes”, what was the DECC Project Number?
Has the proposed activity, or similar activities been the subject Yes / No
of a previous PON15E?
If “Yes”, what was the DECC Project Number?
Project name
Project locationLatitudeLongitude
(Please include N and W / E designations)
Distance to nearest UK coastlinekm Which coast?England / Wales / Scotland / NI
Distance to nearest transboundary linekmWhich line?UK/
Have consultations been carried out with:
Marine Scotland / SEERADYes / No / Not Applicable
CEFAS / DEFRA Yes / No / Not Applicable
JNCCYes / No / Not Applicable
NE (English waters)Yes / No / Not Applicable
CCW (Welsh waters)Yes / No / Not Applicable
SNH (Scottish waters)Yes / No / Not Applicable
EHS (Northern Irish waters)Yes / No / Not Applicable
Details of the outcome of the consultation should be included in Section B.
Section B: JUSTIFICATION
A summary of the proposed chemical use and/or discharge during the decommissioning operation, and a justification for the request for chemical permit, must be submitted in the following text box. Reference should be made to the information included in other sections of the form, particularly Section E, Chemical Usage. Where the proposal has been the subject of an Environmental Statement or a Decommissioning Plan, it will only be necessary to include information that is relevant to the chemical risk assessment.
The information provided should include a brief description of the proposed chemical use and discharge during the decommissioning operation; the significance of any effects (including transboundary effects, if any) of the proposed chemical use and discharge on the environment (taking account of the requirements of the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001); and any measures to mitigate or avoid such effects. Applications should additionally include a chemical risk assessment and, if appropriate, the rationale for chemical selection. For example, if a chemical’s Hazard Quotient ranking or revised OCNS group indicates a significant toxic potential, or the chemical is a potential candidate for substitution, additional information must be provided to justify use of the product. This additional information could include modelling of any proposed discharge(s); a description of the factors that would reduce the toxicity or the exposure concentration; a justification based on unique formulation characteristics; and/or a comparative assessment of alternative products.
Further information on chemical risk assessment, including a question and answer section, can be found on the DECC website at
Section C: FACILITY INFORMATION
Chemical permits can be issued to cover chemical use at more than one facility, providing all the chemical discharges will be made within 500 metres radius of an individual facility (the main facility). Section C1 should therefore be completed for the main facility. If the chemical permit will cover more than one facility, separate copies of Section C1 should then be completed for each additional facility.
Section C1: Facility Details
Name or Identifier of Facility:
Type of Facility:Platform / FPSO / FPU / FSU / Other (specify)
Primary Licence Holder Details:
Primary Licence Holder / Application contact / Company position / Telephone number / E-mail addressOperator Details (if different from Primary Licence Holder):
Operator / Application contact / Company position / Telephone number / E-mail addressDecommissioning Contractor Details (if different from Operator):
Contractor / Application contact / Company position / Telephone number / E-mail addressSection C2: Tied-back Facilities
Please provide details of any facilities that are tied-back to the facilities identified in Section C1, but will not be covered by the chemical permit. (It should be noted that chemical permits are required to cover all chemical use or discharge during decommissioning operations. It will therefore be necessary to obtain additional permits to cover chemical use and discharge during decommissioning operations at tied-back facilities that have not been included in Section C1. Responsibility for obtaining those permits will rest with the operator of the tied-back facilities.)
Name or identifier of tiedback facility / Type of facility e.g. platform, subsea satellite etc / Will there be separate chemical use and/or discharge at the tiedback facilityYes / No / Not Applicable*
Yes / No / Not Applicable*
Yes / No / Not Applicable*
Yes / No / Not Applicable*
Yes / No / Not Applicable*
Yes / No / Not Applicable*
* Not applicable because there will be no chemical use or discharge, or because the facility is not being decommissioned.
Section D: ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
If there are any protected sites (e.g. SPA / SAC / RAMSAR / SSSI), or candidate protected sites, within 40 km of the facility, please list them below
Site / Designating feature(s) / Distance to projectIs the facility in a fish or shellfish spawning areaYes / No
If yes, what species and at what time of year?
Species / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / DecS = Spawning, N = Nursery, J = Juveniles, NS = No documented sensitivity, Blank = No data
(more than one code can be entered)
Are there times of the year when seabirds in the vicinity of facility Yes / No
are more vulnerable that at other times of the year?
Please detail seabird vulnerability at the facility location, and in adjacent blocks.
Quad / Block / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec1 = Very High, 2 = High, 3 = Moderate, 4 = Low, Blank = No data
Are there times of the year when sea mammals (e.g. seals, porpoises, Yes / No
dolphins, whales etc) in the vicinity of the facility are more abundant
than at other times of the year?
If yes, what species and at what time of the year?
Species / Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun / Jul / Aug / Sep / Oct / Nov / Dec1 = High Density, 2 = Moderate Density, 3 = Low Density, Blank = No data (if data source is not UK D-Map, supporting information should be provided in Section B)
Sources of information
Fish/Shellfish / Seabirds / MammalsPlease give details of any other outstanding or unusual environmental features in the vicinity of the facility (e.g. seasonal algal blooms, sessile benthic species and geological or archaeological features) in the following text box.
Insert text or file attachment here.Section E: CHEMICAL USAGE
All chemicals (with the exception of machinery chemicals such as fuels and engine lubricants, domestic and accommodation chemicals, and laboratory reagents) being used and/or discharged during the course of the decommissioning operations to be covered by the chemical permit should be listed in the following tables (excluding any chemical use and/or discharge already covered by a term or production permit). If in doubt as to whether to include a particular chemical, please check the relevant section in the Guidance Notes or contact the Department for clarification.
Chemical permits may be required to cover decommissioning operations involving the discharge of residual chemicals that cannot be off-loaded for onshore disposal, the discharge of the contents of formerly-sealed vessels or equipment that cannot be off-loaded for onshore disposal, the use and discharge of tank and pipe-work cleaning and flushing chemicals and the discharge of aqueous ballasts containing treatment chemicals. Where necessary, a series of applications can be submitted to cover a series of activities, or events, at the same facility, or facilities, using the same application form (revising relevant entries in Sections A – D inclusive, and creating new tables in Section E). For example, it may be necessary to submit an application to cover tank and pipe-work cleaning operations, followed by a subsequent application at a later date to cover de-ballasting discharges during facility removal. In other cases, it may be possible to submit a single application to cover the series of events. If in doubt as to whether it is necessary to apply for a chemical permit for a particular event, please check the relevant section in the Guidance Notes or contact the Department for clarification.
Chemical use and discharge during the course of pipeline decommissioning operations must be the subject of a PON15C application, and should not be included on this form.
Unforeseen chemical use that is not included in an application must be the subject of an application update or a request for a chemical permit variation.
Applications for chemical permits and permit variations must be supported by a chemical risk assessment (see Section B). At the present time, it is unlikely that you will be able to use CHARM to calculate Risk Quotients for decommissioning discharges, although some of the CHARM algorithms may be useful. The risk assessment should therefore be based on the physical, chemical and toxicological properties of the chemicals, and the proposed method of use and/or discharge. If risk assessment software is used to model the discharges, any parameters that are required to run the software and are not included in the tables, e.g.product density, discharge stream density, product concentration in discharge, discharge rate etc, must be detailed in Section B, together with supporting information to justify use of the selected software. The name of the software (including version number) must also be specified in the following text box.
Insert text here:Separate copies of Sections E1and E2 should normally be completed for each event involving the use and/or discharge of chemicals during the decommissioning operations. There will, however, be situations when use and/or discharge information will be relevant to more than one event. For example, the data may cover a series of contemporary discharges. Under such circumstances, Sections E1 and E2 can be completed to cover more than event, providing all the entries in the tables are relevant to every event. One copy of Section E3 should be completed for all the chemicals to be used and/or discharged during the course of the events to be covered by the chemical permit.
Further copies of Sections E1, E2 and E3 can be completed at a later date, to cover chemical use and/or discharge during subsequent events. For example, it may be necessary to seek chemical permits to undertake cleaning operations, followed by a separate request to undertake de-ballasting operations.
Guidance in relation to the completion of Sections E1, E2 and E3 is detailed below.
Event(s): The following event codes should be used to confirm the nature of the activity (more than one code may be necessary):
USEChemical use only, e.g. if systems are “mothballed” prior to decommissioning
DBODe-ballasting operations
GWOGeneral washing operations
PCOPipe-work cleaning operations
PFOPipe-work flushing operations
RCDResidual chemical discharge
SSDSealed system discharge
TCOTank cleaning operations
TFOTank flushing operations
OTHOther (if this code is used, an explanation must be provided in Section B)
If necessary, additional information can be provided to supplement the codes, to more clearly indicate the nature of the activity, e.g. SSD (firewater system), SSD (heating system) etc. Where the use and/or discharge information relates to more than one activity, you should enter all the appropriate event codes, e.g. PCO / TCO (oil / water separators). The event codes, and any additional information provided to supplement the codes, should clearly relate to the entries in Section E1, Section E2 and Section E3.
Proposed dates of chemical use and discharge: The proposed date of chemical use (e.g. date of “mothballing” or commencement date of cleaning operations), and the proposed date of chemical discharge, should be confirmed. The period of validity of the chemical permit will normally commence immediately prior to the proposed date of chemical use, and terminate one month after the proposed date of chemical discharge. If a permit is required for a longer period, this should be explained in Section B. It should be noted that applications for chemical permits must be approved prior to chemical use.
Sites of chemical use and discharge: The site of chemical use (e.g. Platform XXX), and the site of chemical discharge (e.g. Platform XXX), should be confirmed.
Locations of use and discharge: The geographical location (latitude and longitude coordinates) of the site of chemical use, and the geographical location of the site of chemical discharge, should be confirmed.
Distance from discharge site to nearest UK coastline: The location of the site of chemical discharge in relation to the nearest UK coastline should be confirmed (e.g. 120 km, Shetland Isles).
Distance from discharge site to nearest transboundary line: The location of the site of chemical discharge in relation to the nearest transboundary line should be confirmed (e.g. 50 km, Norway).
Distance from discharge site to any protected, or candidate protected, areas: The location of the site of chemical discharge in relation to any protected, or candidate protected, areas should be confirmed (e.g. 120 km, East Coast SSSI).
Water depth at discharge site: The water depth at the discharge site should be confirmed. This can be obtained from surveys, or from Admiralty Charts
Mean residual current at discharge site: The mean residual current at the discharge site should be confirmed. Residual current data can be obtained from surveys. It may also be possible to obtain data from the British Oceanographic Data Centre, at or, in some cases, to derive the data from Admiralty Charts. Where data are available for the entire water column, the mean of the sea surface and seabed values should be entered in the table. Where data are only available for the sea surface or sea bed, that value should be entered. (Where data are available for any of the proposed discharge depths, this information should be entered in Section B, and only the mean, surface or seabed value should be entered in Section E2).
Chemical name: Chemical names are detailed in the ranked lists of approved chemicals on the CEFAS website at All chemicals that are scheduled for use during the course of the decommissioning operations must be on the approved lists. However, there may be chemicals that have already been used on the facility that will have to be discharged during the course of the decommissioning operations, and some of those chemicals may no longer be on the approved lists. If a chemical is no longer on the approved lists, you should enter the chemical name and complete as many of the column entries as possible. You should also provide any additional data that you hold in relation to the chemical in Section B. If the information provided is considered to be insufficient to permit an assessment of the proposals, the department may insist upon appropriate environmental testing prior to determination of the chemical permit application.
Chemical function group: The chemical function groups are detailed in the ranked lists of approved chemicals on the CEFAS website at You must enter the group name detailed in the lists, and should not enter a numeric function code. If you are uncertain about the correct function group, please contact CEFAS for clarification.
Chemical label codes: The chemical label codes include whether a substance is on the OSPAR PLONOR list; whether it is a candidate for substitution; and detail any relevant product warnings The following chemical label codes should be used to summarise relevant properties (more than one code may be necessary).
PLOPLONOR (Automatic OCNS Group E)