Working Toward Zero Spills

In 2012, the number of reportable spills Nexen recorded increased by 11% over 2011. The increase primarily reflects changes in how regulators define a spill as well as Nexen’s commitment to report even the smallest volume of oil spilled offshore.

To achieve our goal of zero environmental incidents across all of our operations, we’re working to strengthen specific processes and systems. In the UK, we are reviewing all of the spills in 2012 to identify common themes. As well, we are looking to apply learnings from a highly successful Hydrocarbon Release Reduction Project, which allowed our UK team to realize a 75% reduction in hydrocarbon releases between 2010 and 2012.

While spill volumes did increase in 2012, we have noted a 23% decrease in the volume spilled over the last three years.


Number of ReportableSpills/Releases1
2010 2011 2012
Canada Gas & OST 22 21 15
Energy Marketing 4 0 0
Oil Sands 15 22 29
United States 7 8 7
United Kingdom 28 25 38
Other International 7 4 0
Total 83 80 89
1 Reportable spills only, not including exceedances.

Environmental Spill/Release Volumes1
(m3)
2010 2011 2012
Canada Gas & OST 431 75.5 29.5
Energy Marketing 0.6 0.0 0.0
Oil Sands 144 106.0 417.4
United States 0 1.3 0.2
United Kingdom 13 24.3 36.6
Other International 41 1.6 0.0
Total 629.6 208.7 483.7
1 Not including exceedences or natural gas releases. All volumes are estimates.