Raising the alarm

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In the event of an offshore spill, a speedy response is critical, so both national governments and companies should posses well-established contingency plans. place.

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SEACOR has been helping the Regional Clean Sea Organisation prepare for a spill by running training courses and drills.

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Equipment is useless without well-trained staff who know how to deploy it.

Effective communication and coordination between governments and industry is essential if oil spills are to be both prevented and remedied.

In the unfortunate event of a large oil spill, fast response is of the upmost importance in order to minimise the resulting impact, and in all seriousness, damage to the surrounding environment. Whether onshore or offshore, a crude oil spill is an event that should not be taken lightly.

It is imperative that all companies involved in the industry know the number to call, the plan of attack, the equipment to use and the personnel to use it. All of this alongside a thorough risk assessment to minimise the likelihood of a spill in the first place.

All evidence suggests that more and more companies are seeking the advice of experts to help in doing this, but the system is far from perfected with communication and coordination still lacking.

Emergency services

Admittedly, major oil spills are infrequent, but given the monumental consequences that can result, the issue warrants much attention. Effects are not only environmental, but also economic and human and with coastline becoming ever more precious throughout the region, then energy industry and governments are addressing shortfalls through reaching out to outside HSE consultants to advise them.

"Consultancy has gained more attention over the last ten years or so. HSE work is critical, particularly at the initial stage to make sure that companies have the right contingency plans in place and the right design and equipment.

There is no rule of thumb as to how to deal with a spill, no one case is the same, which makes it all the more important for companies to have the right experts to advise them at all times," says Farooq Mahmood, an HSE consultant for companies including Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) and Saudi Aramco.

The creation of Oil Spill Response (OSRL), originally by BP, may be seen as a reaction to the worldwide oil industry's decision to look for outside providers and consultants.

The non-profit organisation is now comprised of 33 companies including Shell, Saudi Aramco and Dubai Petroleum who pay retainers for guaranteed ‘tier three' reaction to major spills, training and advice.

"As time has gone by, the oil industry has reduced the size of its dedicated oil spill response teams, so has fed work out to third party providers rather than do assessments and major operations in-house," explains Robert Self, Middle East regional manager for OSRL.

"That said, unlike other regions, many companies in the Middle East have significant in-house capabilities to deal with spills. Saudi Aramco, for one, has a large amount of specialist expertise and equipment which means they can deal with spills of a fairly considerable size - tiers one and two - without calling in any outside help," adds Self.

Whilst OSRL concentrates on tier three responses, companies such as SEACOR are on-hand to provide for the whole spectrum of spills. That is, emergency response, management and clean-up of tier one spills that could impact ports, marinas and beaches, and tier two spills that have the potential to impact significant parts of a country.

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