Environmental Statement - Maersk Oil

Balloch Field Development Environmental Statement
Section 3 Baseline Environment
3. BASELINE ENVIRONMENT
This section describes the baseline environment, that is, the current status of the proposed project
area. This is required in order to identify the potential environmental impact of the development and
to provide a basis for assessing the potential interactions of the proposed development with the
environment.
This section has been prepared with reference to available literature, expertise, previous experience
and site‐specific survey data. Summaries of the data from these surveys have been included in the
relevant sections of this report, with a synopsis of the general survey information provided in
Section 3.2.
3.1. THE SURROUNDING AREA
The Balloch field is located in the Central North Sea (CNS) in Block 15/20a. It lies in water depths of
approximately 140 m and is located approximately 225 km northeast of Aberdeen and 36 km west of
the median line between the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea (Figure 3‐1).
3.2. SURVEY INFORMATION
Figure 3‐1 Location of the Balloch development.
The Balloch field is located within an area of past and current oil and gas activity. Several
environmental surveys have been conducted in the Donan field (located above the Balloch field) and
nearby areas prior to the exploration and production activities commencing. Consequently, there is a
substantial amount of data which can be used to describe the environmental conditions in the area.
The main surveys used in the environmental baseline are summarised in Table 3‐1. Sampling
locations for the surveys are provided in Figure 3‐2.
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