For over a decade Five Oceans have conducted environmental impact assessments (EIA) in an expanding range of sectors including the oil and gas industry, manufacturing industries (e.g. mineral fertilisers, food processing), infrastructure (desalination and power plants, roads, airports etc.), ports and harbours, tourism, aquaculture and fisheries.

We specialise in coastal and marine EIAs in the Arabian Region, particularly Oman, UAE and Qatar. In the Gulf area, the majority of industrial development takes place in the coastal zone where environmental and socio-economic sensitivities are high because of the abundance of natural resources and easy access to the sea.

The EIA process requires a review of national and international legislation, an in-depth understanding of the proposed development, environmental baseline studies, impact assessment and the development of an environmental management plan (EMP) to minimise negative impacts and maximise positive effects. Often, an EIA is required at an early stage in the project cycle to obtain the environmental permit from the authorities that allows the development to proceed. However, more and more Five Oceans is providing input to the conceptual and detailed design phases of the project cycle. This allows potential environmental issues to be identified early, which enables issues to designed out rather than being mitigated at a later stage.

For less complex projects, we produce an environmental impact statement (EIS) sufficient to obtain the necessary permit on behalf of the client.

We rarely consider the production or submission of the assessment report to be the end of our involvement in the permitting process.  If so instructed, we will follow the permit application through the government approval process and negotiate the permit’s conditions on behalf of the client. This allows our clients to take advantage of our good relationship with the regulatory authorities that we have developed over the years and helps to achieve a timely and streamlined result.

Download our information sheet on EIA & Permitting