Ecomare

Water condenses in the bore hole during exploitation of natural gas. The 'wet' exploited gas is separated into clean gas and production water. This water contains oil, heavy metals and PAHs. When discharging production water, these polluted materials end up in the seawater. Oil can be found at a distance of around 3000 meters from the production rig. The concentration of oil within 750 meters is very high, up to 1000 times the natural concentration. In 2000, the Coastguard reported 27 incidental discharges from offshore platforms on the Dutch section of the North Sea.