Number (1)
April 2011
-
Marine Environment & Wildlife Section
Environment Department
Prevention and Control against Oil Pollution
I. Background: Oil Spills can arise from a number of different sources ranging from oil
loading, unloading or pipeline operation, and from a collision or grounding of vessels
carrying crude oil and product in local ports or coastal waters. They can also arise from
tankers or barges operating on inland waterways, or from exploration and production
operation and tankers operating in international waters. There are also other non
operational sources such as urban runoff and natural seepage.
Without a doubt the most crucial aspect of dealing with any emergency is to be prepared.
However unlike most emergencies that occur with little warnings but are over in a
relatively short period of time, an oil spill incident can also occur with little warning but
may extend for weeks, months or even years.
Therefore planning for oil spills must not only look at the immediate tactical response
and managing the immediate aftermath but must be prepared to cater for a much
lengthier tactical response and must have a more strategic view with regards to an
aftermath that may extend for years.
II. Introduction: Planning for an oil spill emergency helps minimized potential danger
to human health and the environment by ensuring a timely and coordinated response.
Well designed local, regional and national contingency plans can assist response
personnel in their efforts to contain and clean up oil spill by providing information that
the response team will need before, during and after spills, occur.
Developing and exercising the plan provides opportunities for the response community
to work together as a team and develop the interpersonal relationship that can mean so
much to the smooth functioning of a response.
Because the approached and methods for responding to oil spills are constantly evolving
and each oil spill provides an opportunity to learn how to better prepare for future
incidents , contingency plans are also constantly evolving and improving ensuring
increased protection for human health and environment from these accidents.
III. Objective: To provide guidelines and model of a timely and coordinated response
mechanism for the containment and recovery of oil spill using the combined resources of
the government and private stakeholders. It is hope that with the application of this, the
impact and damages on the marine environment caused by an oil spill will be very much
minimized if not totally avoided.
A. International Conventions
Convention Objective
CLC PROT 1992 / Protocol of 1992 This convention provides for compensation for
to amend International Convention damaged, or response cost incurred, due to spills
on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution of persistent oils within a member nations
Damaged,1969 territorial sea or EEZ. Claims are made against
the vessel owner and insurers.
CLC is based on the principle of strict liability,
i.e., the vessel which spilled the oil will pay
regardless of fault
OPRC 1990, International This convention makes provision for contingency
Convention on Oil Pollution plans for ships, offshore platforms, coastal
Prevention, Response and terminals and ports, and for the development of
Cooperation national response plan
Its also encourages the development of
international cooperation in spill preparedness
and response
MARPOL 73/78, International It sets out a wide range of procedures and ships
Convention for the Protection of design and operating requirements aimed at
Pollution from Ships 1973 as reducing pollution of the sea from ships
modified by the Protocol 1978 Annex 1 deals with oil pollution
London Convention 1972, This convention regulates the discharge of waste,
Convention on the Prevention of including oily waste, at sea
Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Waste and other Matter, 1972, as
amended
Intervention 1969, International This Convention affirms the right of a coastal
Convention relating to the State to take such measure on the high seas as
intervention on the high seas in may be necessary to prevent, mitigate, or eliminate
cases of oil pollution casualties, 1969 danger to its coastline or related interest from
pollution by oil or the threat thereof, following a
maritime casualty.
Protocol Objective
Protocol concerning Marine To take all appropriate measures to prevent, abate
Pollution resulting from Exploration and combat pollution in the Sea Area resulting
and Exploitation of the Continental from exploration and exploitation of the bed of
Shelf (1999) the territorial sea and its sub-soil and the
continental shelf.
Protocol for the Protection of the To take all appropriate measures to prevent, abate
Marine Environment against and combat pollution by discharges from land
Pollution from Land-Based Sources reaching the Sea Area whether water-borne, air-
(1990) borne, or directly from the coast including
outfalls and pipelines.
Protocol concerning Regional Co- Is to provide cooperative and effective preventive
operation in Combating Pollution by and response measures to deal with marine
Oil and Other Harmful Substances emergencies caused by oil and other harmful
in Cases of Emergency (1978) substances.
C. Federal Laws
D. Local Orders
How does petroleum (oil products) become a pollutant in the coastal and marine
environment?
Accidental or deliberate, operational discharges and spills of oil from ships, especially
tankers, offshore platforms and pipelines, is the most obvious and visible cause of oil
pollution of the marine environment.
However, oils enter the ocean from the variety of sources, and both natural sources and
land based sources account for a large part of the total annual input to the marine
environment as oil pollution.
tanker spills
extraction 8%
(plaf orms and trasportation
produces w aters) (cargo w ashing,
3% coastal f acility and
pipeline spills)
4%
VI. Guidelines:
1. Following Entities are required to develop and maintain oil spill response plan
capable to handle Tier 1 or 2 spills ( see definition at part VIII ) emanating from
their operations and be submitted to Marine Environment and Wildlife Section
for approval;
a) Oil exploration and production activities
b) Shipyards
c) Oil refineries, terminals and depot
d) Port, harbors and marinas
e) Manufacturing plants and other establishment using persistent oil
2. Ships / Vessels are required to develop and maintain on board a Shipboard Oil
Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP).
3. Response plans must clearly indicate the reporting requirements and must
assigned responsibilities for reporting pollution incident. The contact details and
requirements for reporting spills must also be displayed throughout the site in
accordance with Part VII.
4. Companies must maintain oil spill equipment capable of addressing spills from
their facilities/vessels including port, harbors and marinas.
5. The response plan must list any critical environmental resources within the likely
impact areas and the means to protect them.
6. The response plan must list the inventory of all equipment to be maintained at
the site and who is responsible for its maintenance.
a. Under the Federal Law 24 of 1999, the owner, captain or any person in charge of
the marine means of transportation, the persons responsible for the
transportation of oil located within seaports or the marine environment of the
United Arab Emirates and the officials of parties involved in oil extraction are
required to report immediately any oil spillage incident to the following
Authorities.
c. Within 24 hours of the incident, Oil Spill Report form (see Annex 1) must
be faxed to MEWS office, Fax No. 04 7033532 or by email to
marabdulla@dm.gov.ae and mahussain@dm.gov.ae.
The size, location and timing of an oil spill are unpredictable. Spills can arise from oil
loading, unloading or pipeline operations, and from a collision or grounding of vessels
carrying crude oil and products in local ports or coastal waters. They can also arise from
tankers or barges operating on inland waterways, or from exploration and production
operations and tankers operating in international waters.
Oil spill risks and the responses they require should be classified according to the size of
spill and its proximity to a companys operating facilities. This leads to the concept of
Tiered Response to oil spills. A company should seek to develop response capability in
a way that allows it to be escalated as required for each incident. A contingency plan
should cover each Tier and be directly related to the companys potential spill scenarios.
The amount of equipment and trained personnel identified at each Tier will vary for each
operation, depending on a variety of factors such as the risk, location, oil type and
environmental or socioeconomic sensitivities under threat.
b. Tier 2 Response
Medium spills that may be local or at some distance from operational centers
This will cover company operations at their own facilities and within public or multi-user
facilities where a company has limited control of events and the physical area of the spill
is larger than in the Tier 1 case. The risks here would typically be associated with
shipping accidents in ports or harbors, in creeks or coastal waters, but could also be from
pipelines, tank failures or near shore exploration and production operations. Other
users/operators of the facility should recognize that they run similar risks and be
encouraged to join in establishing an oil spill plan and response capability. As public
amenities might be threatened, local government services and agencies may act as the
principal coordination and control agency. The contingency plan should carefully define
the conceptual response capability, the roles and responsibilities of the various parties,
the scope of the plan and procedures for escalating the response to the Tier 3 level.
c. Tier 3 Response
Large spills which may exceed national boundaries
This will cover major incidents, the scale and scope of which is beyond the capabilities of
the Tier 2 response.
The oil spilled may have an impact on the property or operations of the company, or
occur near a company installation and be too large for the company to handle alone.
Equally, it might be very remote from all company owned or -operated resources. The
likelihood of such incidents may be low but pollution damage can be considerable and
coastlines over a wide area are potentially at risk.
The contingency plan should aim to access and mobilize local, national and international
resources (from regional stockpiles and elsewhere) quickly and efficiently. Because such
incidents often become high profile and politically sensitive, the Tier 3 plan will most
probably form part of a National Emergency Plan headed by an appropriate national
agency or government department. The contingency plan must identify the agreed role
for all participants within that National Emergency Plan.
In actual incidents, spills do not always fall into convenient categories and the boundaries
between Tiers will inevitably be blurred. It is, therefore, important to be prepared to
involve the next highest Tier from the earliest moments. It is easier to stand down an
alerted system than to try to escalate a response by calling up unprepared reserves at a
late stage.
d. Classification
The spill dimensions associated with the individual Tier classes are classified in the table
below:
III More than 1,000,000 liters (> Total national resources and foreign resources
1,000 m)
In the event of an oil spill, the incident organizational chart shown below shall be
followed:
The movement of oil from the dominant production centers of the world to the
worldwide market is achieved primarily by the use of tankers and pipelines. The global
pattern of marine transport is well established. The risks posed by oil transportation lead
governments, oil companies and ship owners alike to recognize the need to have in place
an effective and tested crisis management capability. Oil spill response planning is one
facet of that activity.
A strategy section, which should describe the scope of the plan, including the geographical
coverage, perceived risks, roles/responsibilities of those charged with implementing the
plan and the proposed response strategy;
An action and operations section, which should set out the emergency procedures that will
allow rapid assessment of the spill and mobilization of appropriate response resources;
A data directory, which should contain all relevant maps, resource lists and data sheets
required to support an oil spill response effort and conduct the response according to an
agreed strategy.
The preferred industry approach to oil spill contingency planning should tackle
three main issues:
2. Maximum credible and most likely case scenarios should be identified based on a risk
analysis of the geographic area covered by the plan.
1. Strategy Section
Dimension of plan: which will indicate the area the plan covers and its
geographical limits. For instance it may cover a refineries operations plus the sea
approaches to the marine terminal at the refinery.
Risk: the part will describe he types of risk involved from the chance of a hose
burst or pipeline failure to the possible grounding or collision of an approaching
tanker. From these scenarios plus knowledge of types of oils being handled at the
facility an indication of the fate and effect of an incident can be predicted. By
being able to predict the fate and effect shoreline resources can be prioritized
from protection.
Response strategy: will define the philosophy and objectives of response. It will
indicate the problems due to local limiting and adverse conditions as well as
setting out the strategies for sea and coastal zones. Arrangements for dealing with
waste storage and disposal will be outlined.
Organization and manpower: this sub section will clearly outline the
management organization from the on scene commander to the clean up workers
in the field. It will also show the relationship with the relevant government
authorities and how they fit into the incident management system.
Initial Procedures: This set out arrangements for notifying the relevant
authorities of an accident.
Emergency: activation procedures for calling out response team members and
setting up the command center. Emergency activation and mobilization
procedures that will allow rapid sourcing and deployment of resources
particularly from contractors and third parties.
Guidance on specific cleanup operations and the critical factors when deciding
the final and optimum levels of shoreline cleanup.
Which should contain all the relevant maps, (particularly sensitivity maps) resource list
and local wind, weather and environment data sheets to assist in the assessment of the
situations and the development of a strategy for dealing with the situations.
Primary oil spill equipment (manufacturer type, size, location and cost of hire
where applicable)
Refer to Annex 2 for Proposed Contingency Planning Format for more detailed on
what should be contained within each of the main section of the response plan.
Normally, the aims of oil spill response are both to minimize the immediate damage to
environmental and socio-economic resources and to reduce the time for recovery of
affected resources. These can be best achieved by basing all oil spill responses on the
process called Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA), meaning the measures
undertaken should be those that will result in the greatest reduction of environmental
damage for the available means and resources. Below are some of the guidelines in
carrying out a NEBA;
B. Response Strategy
o Mechanical Recovery
Mechanical recovery constitutes the most common approach for combat of marine
oil spills. The mechanical recovery operation will typically involve the following
components:
Booms for containment of oil
Skimmers for recovery of oil
Pumps
Oil / water separators
Temporary storage
Vessel for towing of booms and operation of recovery units
The operation may involve three or two vessels, depending on how the boom is
deployed. The purpose of the boom is to concentrate the oil to a thick enough layer
for effective recovery to take place. The effectiveness of booms to accumulate the
oil is highly dependent on wave conditions, tow speed, boom configuration and oil
o Mechanical removal
Shoreline cleanup by mechanical removal involves a wide range of different tools
and techniques, reflecting the highly variable conditions that a shoreline area can
represent.
Techniques may be ranging from manually removal of oil using sorbents of simple
tools to the use of more advances beach cleaning machinery. Here is only listed a
number of techniques/tools commonly applied to remove oil at a shoreline:
o Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the application of nutrients (fertilizers containing nitrogen and
phosphorous) to the shoreline to accelerate the natural biodegradation of the oil. Oil
biodegradation is the natural process by which microorganism oxidizes
hydrocarbons, ultimately converting them to carbon dioxide and water. The process
is limited by the availability of oxygen, moisture and nutrients needed by microbes.
The use of non-native bacteria is not recommended as most areas have indigenous
bacteria that are capable of degrading oil.
Bioremediation is typically used as a final treatment step after completing
conventional shoreline treatment or in areas where other methods are not possible
or recommended.
o Biodegradation
This is natural process whereby bacteria and other micro-organism found in the sea
break down spilled oil. It is one the main ways in which spilled oil is weathered.
When oil is spilled into the marine environment, the growth of indigenous microbes
is stimulated as increase amounts of carbon in the oil provide food for the microbes.
Biodegradation occurs at different rates depending on the type of oil, the amount of
oxygen and nutrients and temperature levels.
o In-situ burning
In situ burning is carried out at shorelines by igniting the upwind end of the oiled
area and allowing the oil to burn downwind. The method is typically used on
substrate or vegetation where sufficient oil has collected to sustain ignition, if oil of
o Dispersant
The use of dispersants will break up the oil film physically, thus reducing the
smothering effect of a slick in plants and animals and they will also accelerate the oil
biodegradation process. The use of dispersant in Dubai water is not recommended
where physical recovery of oil is feasible. Below are guidelines for the use of
dispersant.
The use of dispersants is only allowed in Dubai Waters with the following
conditions:
a. COREXIT 9500*
b. DASIC SLICKGONE NS
c. FINASOL OSR 52
d. GAMLEN OD 4000 (PE 988)
e. NU CRU
f. RADIAGREEN OSD
* For sea and beach but not for rocky shore
6. In case of using any other product which not approved its considered a
violation and penalty will be imposed
Oil Spilled
Yes No
Monitor
Yes No
Implement
Yes No
Are control/recovery Can oil be chemically
actions adequate? dispersed?
Or
partially
Yes No
Continue actions
Implement
dispersion
Yes No
NAME: .. NAME:
OCCUPATION: OCCUPATION: ..
PHONE NO: PHONE NO: ...
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/REMARKS:
......
What follows sets out the proposed sections and subsections of each part of a typical oil
spill contingency plan and may be used either as a template when writing a new plan or
as a checklist when reviewing an existing plan.
Strategy Section
7. Initial procedures
7.1 Reporting incident, preliminary estimate of response Tier
7.2 Notifying key team members and authorities
7.3 Establishing and staffing control room
7.4 Collecting information (oil type, sea/wind forecasts, aerial surveillance, beach reports)
7.5 Estimating fate of slick (24, 48 and 72 hours)
7.6 Identifying resources immediately at risk, informing parties
9. Control of operations
9.1 Establishing a management team with experts and advisors
9.2 Updating information (sea/ wind/weather forecasts, aerial surveillance, beach
reports)
9.3 Reviewing and planning operations
9.4 Obtaining additional equipment, supplies and manpower
9.5 Preparing daily incident log and management reports
9.6 Preparing operations accounting and financing reports
9.7 Preparing releases for public and press conferences
9.8 Briefing local and government officials
1O.Termination of operations
10.1 Deciding final and optimal levels of beach clean-up
10.2 Standing-down equipment, cleaning, maintaining, replacing
10.3 Preparing formal detailed report
10.4 Reviewing plans and procedures from lessons learnt
Data Directory
Maps/charts
1. Coastal facilities, access roads, telephones, hotels, etc.
2. Coastal charts, currents, tidal information (ranges and streams), prevailing winds
3. Risk locations and probable fate of oil
4. Shoreline resources for priority protection
5. Shoreline types
6. Sea zones and response strategies
7. Coastal zones and response strategies
8. Shoreline zones and clean-up strategies
Lists
1. Primary oil spill equipment: booms, skimmers, spray equipment, dispersant,
absorbents, oil storage, radio communications, etc (manufacturer, type, size, location,
transport, contact, delivery time, cost and conditions)
2. Auxiliary equipment: tugs and work boats, aircraft, vacuum trucks, tanks and barges,
loaders and graders, plastic bags, tools, protective clothing, communications equipment,
etc (manufacturer, type, size, location, transport, contact, delivery time, cost and
conditions)
3. Support equipment: aircraft, communications, catering, housing, transport, field
sanitation and shelter etc (availability, contact, cost and conditions)
4. Sources of manpower: contractors, local authorities, caterers, security firms
(availability, numbers, skills, contact, cost and conditions)
5. Experts and advisors: environment, safety, auditing, (availability, contact, cost and
conditions)
6. Local and national government contacts: (name, rank and responsibility, address,
telephone, fax, telex)
Data
1. Specifications of oils commonly traded
2. Wind and weather
3. Information sources
References:
For more additional information in combating oil spills, the following references and
websites are recommended:
a. "A guide to Contingency Planning for Oil Spill in Water", IPIECA Report Series
Vol. 2 2nd Edition March 2000
b. "Guide to Tiered Preparedness and Response", IPIECA Report Series Vol. 14
c. "Choosing Spill Response Option to Minimized Damage", Net Environmental
Benefit Analysis IPIECA Report Series Vol. 10
d. "Action Against Oil Pollution" , A Guide to the Intergovernmental and Industry
organizations involve in the prevention and mitigation of oil spill in the marine
environment by IPIECA
e. www.imo.org
f. www.ipieca.org
g. www.itopf.com