MARINE INDUSTRY GROUP (MIRG)

1983 ◽  
Vol 1983 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-194
Author(s):  
Robert J. Meyers ◽  
Michael R. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Industry Group ◽  
Resource Information ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Marine Industry ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
Resource Data ◽  
Verification Process

ABSTRACT Eleven companies involved in the marine transportation of petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico have established the Marine Industry Group (MIRG). MIRG is not an oil spill response organization, nor an oil spill cooperative. Rather, it is a group with the primary purpose of enhancing oil spill response capability in the Gulf of Mexico. Toward this end, MIRG has funded two oil spill contingency planning information projects which will:Identify the location of specific cleanup equipment and resources and provide information concerning the logistical requirements to deploy such equipmentProvide a survey which will identify and give information on the economically and ecologically sensitive areas in the Gulf of Mexico Both projects use available data and organize it into a format which can be useful for the broad area of interest where marine transporters operate. This paper describes the organization and objectives of MIRG, defines the area of interest, describes the resources and logistics and the environmental survey projects, and outlines other activities of the group. The resources and logistics project is discussed at length. The method of assembling the resource information, the verification process, and the updating methods are discussed. The use of this resource data is demonstrated for a hypothetical oil spill scenario.

scholarly journals MIRG ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENT: AN OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING TOOL FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO

1983 ◽  
Vol 1983 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-181
Author(s):  
June Lindstedt-Siva ◽  
Bart J. Baca ◽  
Charles D. Getter
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Industry Group ◽  
Sensitive Areas ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Marine Industry ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Environmental Element ◽  
Spilled Oil

ABSTRACT Several companies involved in the marine transportation of petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico have established the Marine Industry Group (MIRG). MIRG has funded two oil spill contingency planning information projects for the Gulf of Mexico. The Resources and Logistics Element identifies the location and accessibility of cleanup equipment in the area of interest. The Environmental Element describes Gulf of Mexico environments, identifies biologically and socioeconomically sensitive areas, and includes countermeasure considerations. This paper examines the environmental element of the MIRG project. The purpose of this element is to provide environmental information on the Gulf of Mexico coastline in a form that can easily be used during an oil spill emergency. The information covers both U.S. and Mexican nearshore waters and coastal areas and is specific enough to provide meaningful guidance to spill response personnel. The environmental element is divided into two volumes. Volume I is an environmental overview of the Gulf of Mexico, including physical processes that influence the movement of spilled oil, a description of Gulf of Mexico environments, an analysis of possible spill impacts, and spill cleanup considerations for each type of environment. Volume II is divided into regional sections. Each section includes overview maps of the area covered, detailed maps of identified sensitive areas, and accompanying data sheets which include reasons for sensitivity, access and possible launch points for equipment, and countermeasure considerations. These volumes are designed to function as field manuals during spills as well as reference documents for spill response planning.

A State's Response to Oil Spill Preparedness How the Texas General Land Office built and maintains one of the premier oil spill response organizations

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 2017031
Author(s):  
Steven Buschang
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
State Response ◽  
General Land Office ◽  
Response Team ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
State Of The Science ◽  
Index Maps

Texas produces nearly twice and much oil as the next highest producing U.S. state and has approximately 3300 miles of sensitive jurisdictional shoreline boarding the second highest area of our nation's oil production, the Gulf of Mexico. It is home to over 27 operating refineries and hosts 3 of the top 10 busiest ports in the nation. Since 1991, the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) has built an oil spill prevention and response program that is arguably the premier state oil spill program in the nation; one that responds 24/7 to over 600 reported spills per year, certifies, audits and inspects over 600 oil handling facilities, administers an abandoned vessel removal program, an oily bilge facility program, and has an ongoing oil spill R&D program and its own state Scientific Support Coordinator, ensuring that prevention, planning and response activities are state of the science. The TGLO produces the Texas Oil Spill Toolkit, now in its 17th edition, which is a spill planning and response resource for the western Gulf of Mexico, and houses a collection of plans and documents in a single, easy to use online/off-line .html format. Plans include up-to-date Area Committee Plans (ACP) and pre-planning documents, all aligned with the National Response Framework (NRF). Included are Regional Response Team VI (RRT) documents and guidance, pre-authorization plans and mapping for alternative spill response, Priority Protection Areas (PPA), Environmental Sensitivity Index Maps (ESI), and site specific Geographic Response Plans (GRP). This paper describes the conception, history and evolution of the building and operation of a state response organization in an era of “less government”.

NATIONAL DRILL OF THE VENEZUELAN OIL SPILL CONTINGENCY PLAN

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 513-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Villoria ◽  
Elia Gomez ◽  
Nelson García Tavel
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Contingency Plan ◽  
Field Response ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
Evaluation Decision ◽  
Flow Charts ◽  
Intensive Work ◽  
The Given ◽  
Response Capability

ABSTRACT In November 1993, the first drill of the Venezuelan national oil spill contingency plan (VNCP) was carried out to evaluate both the response capability of the plan to cope with an emergency and the effectiveness of the regional response organization to manage the given scenario. During four days of intensive work, 800 participants, evaluators, and controllers of the drill made decisions and took actions to mobilize resources and pollution countermeasure equipment for cleanup operations. To measure the effectiveness of the response actions, 23 oil spill response processes were evaluated based on flow charts or decision trees designed for each process. In summary, the drill covered all areas related to response actions in the case of an oil spill (alert, notification, evaluation, decision-making, mobilization, field response, and postmortem), evaluating the ability of the VNCP to cope with a major emergency and identifying weaknesses in order to improve the response capability.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT—BOHAI SEA—CHINA

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 905-908
Author(s):  
Mark Boben ◽  
Liu Yuheng
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Bohai Sea ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
The Bohai Sea ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
Offshore Oil

ABSTRACT Oil spill response along the coast of China has been recognized as an important issue by the Chinese government. The Bohai Sea in particular, is an area of high oil exploration and production activity, with offshore developments comprising platforms and FPSO's (floating, production, storage and off-loading) together with associated vessels and pipelines. Major shipping lanes from the East China Sea into China also pass through the offshore oil fields. For the oil companies operating in the area, the prospect of an accidental oil spill is a concern from both a domestic and international perspective. In 2000, the companies involved in upstream activities in the Bohai Sea began discussions with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to develop an oil spill response capability. Led by ConocoPhillips, the international oil companies worked with CNOOC to build a framework for developing an oil spill response organization (OSRO) to provide appropriate services within the Bohai Sea. The key tenet for this OSRO, was to be able to perform to international standards. In 2002, the CNOOC executive management, through its subsidiary, Bohai Corporation(COOBC) committed to establishing a commercial oil spill response organization, Bohai Environmental Services Ltd. (BES). The BES remit is focused on the Bohai Sea, but with the eventual goal of providing response services along the wider China coastal region and eventually fulfilling a longer term vision of expanding into the international market. This Paper describes the standards required by the international oil companies and how BES was conceived and organized to meet them.

Incorporating Well Control Support Functions into a Broader Oil Spill Response Organization

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 2098-2111
Author(s):  
Kelly Lynn Schnapp ◽  
Joseph Leonard ◽  
Michael Drieu ◽  
Bryan Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Support Functions ◽  
Well Drilling ◽  
Well Control ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
And Control

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to better prepare the oil spill response community for incorporating well control into a response organization, based on conditional considerations rather than long and firmly held assumptions. Techniques used to control a well, after a blowout, are more closely related to technical well drilling and control activities rather than to operations intended to address oil in the environment. When oil is released from a well in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), response organizers need to consider various factors influencing the organization that may exist at the time. These include a working knowledge of well control by response leadership; strength of responder relationships; and response complexity (to include authority, stakeholder and public expectations). This is particularly true when incorporating the well control support function in the oil spill response operational planning processes, usually facilitated by the Incident Command System (ICS). Within the last three years, complex well control operations were uniquely incorporated into response organizations during two Government Initiated Unannounced Exercises (GIUEs) and during the DEEPWATER HORIZON incident. Three options will be presented. Considerations for incorporating well control into a response organization will be presented using the case studies noted previously and by comparing similar lessons learned from the salvage industry in the late 1990's. Options presented help demonstrate that response organization flexibility is key to a successful response. This paper seeks to illuminate options surrounding placement of well control within an incident command structure based upon unique incident situational realities.

scholarly journals Enhancing Oil Spill Response Capacities in the South Baltic Sea Region via Cross-Border Utilization of Biodegradable Oil Binders

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. Manuscript
Author(s):  
Anastasia Christodoulou ◽  
Dimitrios Dalaklis ◽  
Henrik Nilsson ◽  
Jennie Larsson ◽  
Anne Pazaver
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
The South ◽  
Special Equipment ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Oil Spill Response

Occurrences of oil spills are responsible for very significant environmental degradation; they are more likely to happen in areas with dense shipping traffic, or in close vicinity of transport pipelines and/or other infrastructures used for production and processing purposes. Without international cooperation, individual countries often lack sufficient resources and assets to successfully respond to large-scale oil spill incidents. This can be related to the vast quantities of oil involved in those incidents or the lack of necessary special equipment for dealing with the tasks at hand by the country under the need to respond. For successful resolution of oil spill incidents, close and effective international cooperation -especially between neighboring countries that usually “share the burden” of oil pollution- is a vital necessity. On this basis, the South Baltic Oil (SBOIL) project aims to strengthen the existing oil spill response capacities in the South Baltic region, introducing a cross-border spill response tool based on the new ‘green technology’ of biodegradable oil binders (BioBinders). In order for this new concept to be implemented, it is necessary to examine the international and national regulations and guidelines with reference to sorbent use and exchange of oil spill equipment in the area of interest and also analyze the national oil spill contingency plans of the different countries involved in the project. After investigating the legal requirements for the utilization of BioBinders in the South Baltic region, the analysis at hand presents the outcomes of a Table Top Exercise that was based on a realistic oil spill scenario in the wider region. This Exercise tested the compatibility of International/National/Regional plans regarding the use of the BioBinders and examined the topics of recovery and waste management, including alternative techniques available for oil spill response. Results point towards the direction that the use of the BioBinders is promising and represents a response option to improve the existing oil spill response capacities in the South Baltic region; the main challenge lies with the difficulty in dealing with waste management, mainly because of the current legislation in place within the participating countries.

scholarly journals Current and Proposed Efforts to Resolve HSPD-5 and NCP Authorities (NIC and PFO)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
LCDR John LaMorte ◽  
LT Rebecca Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
National Guard ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Environmental Disasters ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Oil Rig ◽  
Exercise And Training

ABSTRACT During the evening of 20 April, 2010 U.S. Coast Guard District Eight Command Center watch standers received a report of an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon (DWH), an oil rig working on the Macondo oil well approximately 42 miles Southeast of Venice, LA (OSC Report, 2011). The explosion on board the DWH and resulting fires eventually destroyed the oil rig and caused it to sink into the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven crewmembers lost their lives in the tragic events that unfolded that night, and one of the nation's largest environmental disasters would soon follow. Estimates of the oil discharged from the Macondo oil well were between 12,000 and 25,000 barrels per day, and the response involved approximately 47,000 oil spill response personnel, 6,870 vessels, approximately 4.12 million feet of boom, and 17,500 National Guard personnel, five states (OSC Report, 2011). The massive oil spill lasted 87 days and estimates suggest that more than 200 million gallons of oil was discharged into the Gulf of Mexico, which stands as the largest oil spill event in U.S. history. From these massive response operations came important lessons learned for SONS event planning, preparedness, and response, as it became apparent during DWH response operations that oil spill response governance and doctrine was not well understood across the whole-of-government. This issue was well documented in the National Incident Commander's report and several recommendations were identified to address this issue. This paper will explore the steps taken within the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) SONS Exercise and Training Program to promote a better understanding of oil spill response governance and doctrine among Cabinet-level senior leadership and the interagency representatives that will ultimately be involved when the next SONS event happens.

Development of a Training Simulator for Oil Spill Response

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinicius L. Vileti ◽  
Albino Ribeiro Neto ◽  
Joel S. Sales ◽  
Paulo de Tarso T. Esperança ◽  
Sergio H. Sphaier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Training System ◽  
Simplified Model ◽  
Training Simulator ◽  
Morison Equation ◽  
Oil Boom ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Verification Process ◽  
Lumped Masses

The paper describes the development of a training simulator for boats used on Oil Spill response at sea. The simulator models the dynamics of tug boats pulling an oil boom under waves, wind and current. The boom is modeled as a flexible line connected by lumped masses and its flotation characteristics and loads are calculated by Morison equation. A simplified model is used to simulate the oil itself and its interface with the boom line. The verification process was applied and its outcomes are discussed. Also, some case study scenarios are presented and the results are used to evaluate the applicability of the simulator as a training system.

Designing and Developing Exercises to Enhance Capability - A Meta Analytic View

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 745-761
Author(s):  
Geeva Varghese ◽  
Thomas Coolbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Exercise Programs ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
Response Organization ◽  
After Action Reviews

ABSTRACT A robust preparedness framework is essential to maximize response effectiveness and safeguard success. Exercises are an integral part of oil spill preparedness and emergency management. Exercises enhance the capability of an organization to respond by validating plans and procedures and seeking affirmations on assumptions and stakeholder expectations. Since planning and preparing for exercises can be costly and time consuming, it is important that lessons learned are accurately captured, widely communicated and implemented in a timely manner so that they can lead to measurable improvements in the way we prepare and respond to incidents. On average, international Oil Spill Response Organizations (OSRO) may be involved in thirty to forty oil spill response exercises in a given year, ranging from small scale exercises testing communication between various stakeholders to highly complex, multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional scenarios. Participation in multiple exercises in various capacities ranging from planning, designing and facilitation to participation, performance and capability assurance as an Oil Spill Response Organization, presents varied opportunities to view and analyze exercises from both ends of the spectrum, as a planner as well as a participant. A meta-analysis of these exercises offers a unique opportunity to systematically identify recurring areas for improvement and to examine new avenues to explore and test capabilities with operators who have established robust exercise programs. A key outcome of this would be to translate learnings into important enhancements for industry’s collective response and preparedness capability. This paper presents a meta-analysis view of recent OSRO-industry exercises with a focus on a comparative assessment of specific After Action Reviews (AAR). The purpose is to identify common themes in terms of lessons learned and areas for improvement, especially when designing and planning future exercises. It also considers whether exercises have evolved to incorporate changing response capabilities and realistically testing any increased information requirements of the stakeholder community. Finally, it will also examine how successfully companies have sought out emerging technologies that will positively impact preparedness, response and recovery. It is anticipated that the recommendations put forward from this meta-analysis will assist operators in realizing the full benefits of the time and effort invested in exercise programs.

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