Less oil in refinery effluents

CONCAWE first started collecting data on refinery effluents as long ago as 1969. In those days, environmental awareness was in its infancy and this was reflected in the quantity of oil discharged in these effluents, which amounted to 44 000 tonnes from 80 refineries. This survey has been repeated at three- to five-year intervals since then and the most recent survey has just been completed for the year 1997.

The quantity of oil discharged has decreased in every survey and this time was no exception. In 1997, it had fallen to 1455 tonnes from 104 refineries which represents a 43 per cent decrease over the last survey in 1993 (95 refineries). If only those refineries which reported in both surveys are considered, the decrease was even bigger at 50 per cent. If we compare the 1997 data with that from 1969, the reduction in oil discharged is a massive 97.4 per cent.