CONSIDERATION OF TOTAL VOLATILE HYDROCARBON EXPOSURE DURING OIL SPILL RESPONSE1

2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 979-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Grimes ◽  
Nicholas Olden
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Total Volatile ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Oil Spill Response

Public perception and environmental awareness place increasing demands on the petroleum industry to facilitate fast and efficient oil spill containment and recovery to mitigate environmental damage. HSE legislation also places increasing demands on Oil Spill Response Organisations to ensure a safe working environment for responders. This paper looks at the trade-offs facing oil spill response planning from the perspective of occupational exposure to Total Volatile Hydrocarbons (TVH). TVH is a term used to represent a large group consisting of hundreds of chemical compounds that derive from crude oil. Under certain circumstances, in-situ response measures represent a significant risk to local air quality and human health. Mechanical and manual oil spill recovery in close proximity with TVHs place spill responders and potentially the general public at an increased risk from fire/ explosions as well as acute and chronic health implications. Over the course of a spill, physical and chemical processes are continuously changing TVH composition. This requires rapid on-scene monitoring and/ or predictive modelling to optimise spill counter measures and responder safety. The use of personal and area TVH monitoring equipment is discussed in a practical spill recovery context, and an overview is provided of portable gaseous testing equipment with respect to key criteria such as; conformity, configuration, user-friendliness and robustness. Current developments in TVH monitoring models are reviewed and their contribution to future oil spill contingency planning assessed. Consideration is given to hazardous vapour exposure and the resulting health and safety issues that were faced by OSRL during the Tasmin Spirit and an inland well-blow out in Georgia.

DEVELOPING A GUIDELINE FOR OIL SPILL RISK ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE PLANNING FOR OFFSHORE INSTALLATIONS

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-327
Author(s):  
Torild Ronnaug Nissen-Lie ◽  
Odd Willy Brude ◽  
Ole Oystein Aspholm ◽  
Peter Mark Taylor ◽  
David Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Offshore Installations ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT Following the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico (Macondo) oil spill and the 2009 Montara incident in Australia, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) formed the Global Industry Response Group. This Group identified nineteen oil spill response recommendations (OGP, 2011) that are being addressed via an Oil Spill Response Joint Industry Project (OSR-JIP) during 2012–2014. The OSR-JIP is managed by IPIECA on behalf of OGP, in recognition of IPIECA's long-standing experience with oil spill response matters. One of the nineteen recommendations concerned the development of an international guideline for offshore oil spill risk assessment and a method to better relate oil spill response resources to the risk level. Consequently, the OSR-JIP has published a guideline covering oil spill risk assessment and response planning for offshore installations. This paper describes the development and content of the guideline, including how the oil spill risk assessment process provides structured and relevant information to oil spill response planning for offshore operations. The process starts by defining the context of the assessment and describing the activity to be assessed. Thereafter it addresses a series of key questions:What can go wrong, leading to potential release of oil?What happens to the spilled oil?What are the impacts on key environmental - both ecological and socio-economic - receptors?What is the risk for environmental damage?How is the established risk utilised in oil spill response planning? The guideline draws on existing good practices in the determination of oil spill response resources. It promotes consideration, in tactical and logistical detail, of the preferred and viable response strategies to address scenarios covering the range of potential oil spills up to the most serious. The methodology to evaluate the potential spill scenarios utilizes a series of questions:What are the viable techniques/strategies to deliver response with greatest net environment benefit?What are the tactical measures required to implement the identified response strategies, considering technical, practical and safety factors?What Tiered resources are required to mount the tactical measures and achieve effective response? The paper summarizes the useful tools, key information and the necessary level of detail essential to perform an oil spill risk assessment for use in oil spill response planning.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING FOR BIOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE AREAS

1977 ◽  
Vol 1977 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
June Lindstedt-Siva
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Santa Barbara Channel ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
Sensitive Areas ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Response Plan ◽  
Biological Protection ◽  
Spilled Oil

ABSTRACT Oil spill response plans should be tailored to fit the environment in which they will be used. This involves examining physical processes so that the fate of spilled oil may be predicted, and identifying sites that are particularly vulnerable to oil spill damage, i.e., biologically sensitive areas. If these things are known about a region, spill response plans can be designed to prevent oil from entering these sensitive areas. As a consequence, environmental damage can be minimized when biological protection, as well as physical cleanup is made a primary goal in any spill response plan. Clean Seas, Inc., an oil spill cooperative in Santa Barbara is implementing such a spill response plan designed to protect identified biologically sensitive areas in the Santa Barbara Channel. Protection systems are adpated to fit each site, and the plan is practiced through regular drills. This type of planning decreases the number of decisions that must be made after a spill occurs; thereby reducing both the reaction time and environmental damage.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING IN TROPICAL COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS

1985 ◽  
Vol 1985 (1) ◽  
pp. 639-639
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Ballou ◽  
Charles D. Getter ◽  
Bart J. Baca ◽  
Mohammad Al-Sarawi ◽  
Christine L. Vilardi
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Coastal Environments ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Oil Spill Response

OIL SPILL RESPONSE PLANNING IN EASTERN EUROPE: A BULGARIAN CASE STUDY

1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 (1) ◽  
pp. 767-773
Author(s):  
Hilary Hoagland-Grey ◽  
David Archer
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
International Response ◽  
The Face ◽  
Oil Spill Response

ABSTRACT The opening of Eastern Europe to western companies has created a need for international cooperation between these companies and Eastern European governments. This new relationship presents a particular challenge for the oil industry as well as an opportunity for emerging governments to benefit from western companies’ experience. In 1993, Texaco Offshore Bulgaria submitted the first western oil spill response plan for the Bulgarian Black Sea. This paper presents a case study based on Dames & Moore's preparation of this plan. The plan was prepared in cooperation with the Bulgarian government, and included public discussions. It joined the country's existing response resources with Texaco's existing international response strategy. The result was a plan combining local knowledge and support and western capability and experience. This paper outlines the issues addressed in the plan. One critical point discussed below is that of protecting tourist beaches, which are an essential part of the Bulgarian economy. The paper concludes with a discussion of how cooperation between western industry and Eastern European government can result in successful oil spill response planning and help identify key factors for both attaining and maintaining preparedness in the face of the new challenges.

National Oil Spill Response Planning in the U.S.S.R.: Principal Conceptions and Objectives

1991 ◽  
Vol 1991 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-5
Author(s):  
O. Khalimonov ◽  
S. Nunuparov
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Effective Utilization ◽  
Contingency Plan ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
International Monitoring ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
System Data

ABSTRACT International and domestic experience in the response to major oil spills at sea confirms the vital necessity of a national contingency plan to guarantee effective utilization of national resources and those of assisting countries and organizations. Experience in responding to recent major oil spills underlines deficiencies connected with the shortage of technical means and also with ineffective organization of the response and cooperation of all parties involved. This results in unjustifiable delays in decision making and, finally, in catastrophic damages to the environment. The main principles of the U.S.S.R. national oil spill response plan, currently under consideration for approval, are as follows:involvement of a wide range of national forces and forces of the neighboring countries under preliminary agreed-upon schemes;strengthening and development of appropriate legal instruments to stipulate obligations of the parties involved in pollution response operations;development of a mechanism to reduce impediments to financial, technical, and related agreements required prior to commencement of operations (sources of finances, preliminary approval of the response technology by competent authorities, facilitation of custom procedures);unification of the structure of the U.S.S.R national contingency plan with a view to making it compatible with corresponding plans of neighboring countries following the prototype developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO);cooperation in the establishment of the international monitoring system, data bank, and computerized exchange of information.

To Cooperate or Not? Why Working Together is Essential in the Arctic

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 1146-1165
Author(s):  
Johan Marius Ly ◽  
Rune Bergstrøm ◽  
Ole Kristian Bjerkemo ◽  
Synnøve Lunde
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Response ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Oil Pollution ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
The Barents Sea ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Oil Spill Response ◽  
Second Year

Abstract The Norwegian Arctic covers Svalbard, Bear Island, Jan Mayen and the Barents Sea. 80% of all shipping activities in the Arctic are within Norwegian territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone. To reduce the risk for accidents, the Norwegian authorities have established several preventive measures. Among these are ship reporting systems, traffic separation schemes in international waters and surveillance capabilities. If an accident has occurred and an oil spill response operation must be organized - resources, equipment, vessels and manpower from Norwegian and neighboring states will be mobilized. In 2015, the Norwegian Coastal Administration finalized an environmental risk-based emergency response analysis for shipping incidents in the Svalbard, Bear Island and Jan Mayen area. This scenario-based analysis has resulted in a number of recommendations that are currently being implemented to be better prepared for oil spill response operations in the Norwegian Arctic. Further, a large national oil spill response exercise in 2016 was based on one of these scenarios involving at sea and onshore oil spill response at Svalbard. The 2016 exercise, working within the framework of the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic between Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA (Arctic Council 2013), focused on a shipping incident in the Norwegian waters in the Barents Sea, close to the Russian border. Every year, as part of the Russian – Norwegian Oil Spill Response Agreement and the SAR Agreement in the Barents Sea, combined SAR and oil spill response exercises are organized. These are held every second year in Russia and every second year in Norway. There is an expected increased traffic and possible increased risk for accidents in the Arctic waters. In order to build and maintain an emergency response system to this, cooperation between states, communities, private companies and other stakeholders is essential. It is important that all actors that operate and have a role in the Arctic are prepared and able to help ensure the best possible emergency response plans. We depend on one another, this paper highlights some of the ongoing activities designed to strengthen the overall response capabilities in the Arctic.

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