Monitoring North Sea oil production discharges using passive sampling devices coupled with in vitro bioassay techniques.

Semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) and polar organic integrative chemical samplers (POCIS) were deployed in vicinity of an offshore oil production platform discharging production water (produced water) to the North Sea. Extracts from SPMDs and POCIS were subjected to chemical analysis for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and alkylphenols (APs) respectively, and also assessed for acute toxicity (cytotoxicity), estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated production of vitellogenin (Vtg) and induction of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in primary hepatocytes from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Chemical analysis of the extracts revealed a gradient of exposure away from the platform for low molecular weight PAH and AP, whereas no exposure gradient was apparent for high molecular weight PAH, as expected. These data coupled with earlier work allowed a tentative general exposure scenario to be determined. The passive sampler extracts also caused modulation of the bioassay toxicity endpoints, although a clear gradient of response relative to the discharge point could not be identified.