For production operations, hydrocarbon feedstock and product are the main potential environmental contaminant, and so the minimisation of safety and environmental hazards, loss prevention and maintaining operability become one and the same objective.

Environmental and social factors and issues to consider include:  

• wastes requiring treatment and environmental disposal may be small or substantial
• the main potential for serious impact (albeit of low and decreasing probability) is a large, accidental oil spill. Contingency planning is effective in most situations
• special measures to pre-empt impacts of seismic equipment on marine mammals are required in some jurisdictions
• normal offshore exploration and production operations should have low impacts on the environment
• for onshore developments, the most extensive disturbance occurs during exploration and the most intensive during construction. During operations, land requirements reduce and progressive rehabilitation is possible
• direct and indirect economic benefits can be very large, and hence the socio-economic impact can be regionally or nationally significant
• on the other hand, direct employment opportunities are usually small in relation to capital value and output
• precise alignment of pipeline routes is rarely possible when an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required. Criteria are set to guide alignment decisions at the time of construction
• early and open liaison with stakeholders creates an understanding of the project and lines of communication without prejudice to people’s land tenure and other rights.