Following the Montara (2009) and Macondo (2010) oil spill incidents, the international oil industry has undertaken an unprecedented collective effort to apply the lessons from these and other oil spill incidents to improve the management and technical aspects of oil spill response. Over the last three years the IOGP/IPIECA Joint Industry Project (JIP) on Oil Spill Response has overseen 19 specific projects to enhance knowledge and understanding of good practice across a wide range of related technical disciplines. The legacy of this effort includes a comprehensive library of peer reviewed outputs ranging from scan/ glance technical overview products through the broad suite of 24 Good Practice Guides, and also includes a number of deep study-level technical papers and reports.The challenge today is to inculcate this vast body of technical guidance into the awareness of decision makers through a coordinated programme of communication and outreach. The overarching aim is to raise levels of knowledge and understanding relating to the tools and techniques of oil spill response amongst opinion formers and decision-makers. In so doing, industry can overcome barriers that currently restrict / prevent access to use all available response tools, based on a scientific assessment of the most appropriate response strategies.Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) is working with industry on initiatives designed to socialise these outputs within a broad range of stakeholders. Key steps on this journey include:Stakeholder Mapping: understanding the organisations where exposure to the new suite of technical outputs will offer the greatest strategic reward. OSRL has analysed a wide range of stakeholder organisations and rated them according to their respective influence to differentiate organisations that only require a passive awareness from those where coordinated engagement offers the greatest opportunity to influence decision makers. Influence Multipliers: Seeding knowledge and understanding from within, through expanding the network of technical experts and advocates from within Oil Spill Response Organisations (OSROs) and other aligned organisations in the responder community. This strategy can also be used by member oil companies of OSRL and the JIP to reach deeper into these organisations to where oil spill response is not a core discipline.Leverage existing forums: Ensure the JIP outputs are firmly embedded in the activities of the IMO / IPIECA Global Initiative (GI) and also make more effective use of national and regional oil industry associations and other response community networks to give appropriate exposure to the JIP outputs. This paper will discuss each of these ongoing initiatives and will highlight the successes that have been achieved and the challenges that remain.
Within the oil spill response community, dispersant use is considered to be a key tool for the treatment and mitigation of oil spills. As a response technique, the benefits of dispersant application have been long proven, particularly in the case of large offshore spills such as those associated with the Sea Empress (UK, 1996), Montara (Australia, 2009) and Macondo (USA, 2010) incidents. Compared to other spill response techniques, dispersant application has less operational constraints associated with adverse weather conditions and can be rapidly applied from an aerial platform for larger spills far offshore. These reasons render dispersant application a critical tool in the toolbox for many offshore operators. Developing a successful dispersant application strategy requires comprehensive planning. For an offshore operator with a subsea well blowout risk, a number of elements should be carefully considered to ensure the successful execution of the dispersant application strategy. The decision making process should include a detailed evaluation of the oil type, release scenario and location, and the consideration of these parameters against the larger environmental and socio-economic needs of the stakeholder community. Once dispersant application is established to be a viable response option using a process such as Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA), the operator also needs to ensure that it is adequately resourced in terms of application platforms (vessel vs aircraft), monitoring techniques and supporting logistics. Well planned and detailed operational strategies are critical for successful subsea and surface dispersant operations, especially in the unlikely event of a large offshore spill. This paper summarizes the various operational considerations an offshore operator needs to assess during the preparedness stage for developing a viable dispersant application strategy. Drawing on the authors’ experiences in developing and implementing various preparedness projects globally, the different aspects of the dispersant planning process, including oil spill modelling to support decision making, ascertaining dispersant effectiveness for the oil type, selecting appropriate application techniques, establishing necessary logistical support and the setting up of an incident management team to support dispersant operations, will be discussed in detail. The goal of the paper is to build upon prior dispersant strategy discussions and provide an operationally focused blueprint for planning and implementing an effective dispersant application strategy in support of offshore operations.
During the Macondo 252 incident in 2010, it became apparent that the lack of clear guidance to effectively manage the flood of response assistance offered and required from other nations and organizations. To help address these concerns, the U.S. Coast Guard hosted an international ad hoc workgroup after the 2011 International Oil Spill Conference to discuss challenges and issues associated with sharing equipment, technology and expertise among nations and organizations to support a national response authority faced with a significant oil spill exceeding the domestic response capacity. Ideas and recommendations were captured and the need for the development of a comprehensive set of guidelines for International Offers of Assistance (IOA) was formed. The U.S. Coast Guard recognized the importance of establishing these guidelines with a broad, global perspective and proposed the concept to the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). In July 2011, MEPC approved the proposal submitted by the United States, and added this item to the work program of the Technical Working Group of the IMO Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Co-operation to pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances (OPRC-HNS TG). The OPRC-HNS TG began this work during its 13th session in March 2012, and continues to conduct the bulk of guideline development during intersessional periods via an International Correspondence Group, comprised of a range of national response authorities, spill contractors and industry representatives from around the world. These international guidelines will be available for use by nations as a tool to assist in managing a multitude of requests for and offers of assistance from other countries, regional coordinating bodies, or other entities. This paper summarizes work already completed and still in progress on the development of the IMO International Offers of Assistance Guidelines for oil spills. The ultimate goal for these Guidelines, once completed within the OPRC-HNS TG and approved by MEPC, will be adoption and utilization by IMO Member States, particularly those that are party to OPRC Convention and to the OPRC-HNS Protocol which require States to establish procedures for international cooperation during pollution incidents.
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