Zainab Incident and Developments
in Oil Spill Response Programs after the Incident
Bruce McKenzie
Crisis Management Coordinator
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
PO Box 898, Abu Dhabi UAE

Abstract
Oil spills present a significant risk to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its extensive coastline
has a variety of sensitive ecosystems, and increasingly is becoming a popular tourist
destination. Additionally, the coastal environment is the primary source of water within the
UAE for both industrial applications as well as drinking water. Sources of potential spills
include third parties such as the Zaynab tanker that sunk off the UAE coast last year as well
as ADNOC’s extensive oil and gas operations.
ADNOC has had an active and successful spill response strategy in place since 1986.
However in recent years, rapid economic development, fuelled by oil and gas expansion,
has outpaced oil spill response capability. The sinking of the Zaynab off the coast of Dubai
in April of 2001 provided several valuable lessons on how spill response could be improved.
To address the identified gaps, ADNOC is in the process of revising and strengthening its
spill response strategy. The strategy is based on a four-pronged approach that includes
ensuring that the right equipment, trained manpower, organizational structure, and plans arein place to ensure a timely and effective response. The proposed strategy covers all sizes ofspills and follows the generally accepted oil industry practice of categorizing oil spills into
three tiers, depending upon their severity. Tier I spills are small operational type spills thatcan be handled using on site resources. Tier II is a medium sized spill that exceeds thecapability of on-site resources and requires additional resources from within the region tocomplete the clean up. Tier III spills require national or international resources.
Through additional commitment and focused effort, the spill response capability in Abu
Dhabi can be raised to a level that is commensurate with today’s risk.
Environmental Setting
The UAE has a relatively small but very important coastline, both from an environmental andsocio-economic perspective. Including the large number of islands immediately offshore, theUAE has about a 675 km coastline. Approximately 90% (610 km’s) borders the Arabian Gulf,
with the remainder found on the east coast, bordering the Gulf of Oman.
In the sub-tidal areas of the UAE coast, coral reefs support a diverse array of fish, benthic
invertebrates, sponges and algae. Mangroves, usually found on sheltered shores and inestuaries, are highly productive areas and provide habitats for a large variety of organisms
as well as serving as a nursery ground for many fish and species of crustacean (many ofwhich have commercial value). Sea grasses are also important nursery grounds for fish anda food source for dugong and green sea turtles. The waters southeast of Butini Island arehome to a large population of dugong and are protected under the UN World Heritage Site
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Concentrations of shore, wading and diving birds can also be found in the coastal waters of
the UAE. There are a number of priority species (rare, endangered or threatened) that nestor breed in the region. This includes species of cormorant, heron, plovers, terns andflamingo.
From a socio-economic perspective, the UAE has a population of about 3.1 million, 75 % ofwhich resides along the coast. Desalinated seawater provides the majority of the freshwaterneeds of the country. Large quantities of seawater are also required to provide cooling waterfor power generation as well as chemical and industrial processing.
Oil contamination of seawater used for fresh water production can have several adverse
affects. Light fractions of oil will distill over with the water giving it an unpleasant odor. If theseawater is subjected to pre-chlorination (to discourage marine life and fouling inside thedistillers), the chlorine interaction with the oil produces a variety of halogenated2hydrocarbons, some of which are carcinogens and mutagens .
For both cooling purposes and freshwater production, contamination by heavy oil fractions
bring about operational difficulties for the impacted facility, in the form of tube blockage, flowrestriction and/or equipment malfunction.
In recent years the region has become a popular tourist destination, with the development of
the associated infrastructure to support the tourist industry. This includes large hotels,
amenity beaches and associated water sport activities.
Subsistence fishing, while still of some local importance, has declined in significance inrecent years.
Oil Pollution Sources
There are a variety of potential sources of oil pollution in the Gulf region. Locally, ADNOC
and its Group Companies produce about 2.2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd). Well overhalf of this oil is produced offshore. The majority of the oil produced in Abu Dhabi isexported via ship. Approximately 15% (300,000 barrels) of the oil is piped to either Ruwais
or Umm Al Nar for refining and then marine export.
On a regional basis, 65% of the world’s proven reserves are located in the Gulf of Arabia
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area. In 1999, the daily average production of oil out of the region was 21 million bopd.
The majority of the oil is exported via ship, with 30% of the world’s oil tankers operating in
the Gulf region. Fujarah on the east coast of the UAE has become one of the world’s largest
bunkering facilities, servicing tankers moving in and out of the Gulf.
In 1996 it was estimated that 1.2 million barrels of oil are spilled annually in the Arabian Gulf
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Region . Surface currents in the eastern Arabian Gulf move in a counterclockwise gyre,bringing oil that has been spilled in the lower Gulf waters to the UAE Coast.
Over the last several years there have been a number of spills in UAE waters that have
involved the illegal movement of Iraqi oil in sub-standard vessels. In February of 2000, the Al
Jazya 1 sank off the coast of Abu Dhabi releasing 400 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. In April of
2001, the Zaynab sunk off of Jebel Ali spilling 600 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. Both of thesespills shut down or threatened desalination plants and impacted the tourist trade. The
ADNOC response to the Zaynab spill is discussed in greater detail below.

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Zaynab Spill
On April 13, 2001, the vessel Zaynab, carrying 1300 tonnes. of Iraqi fuel oil sunkthapproximately 26 miles west of Dubai. On the morning of April 15 ADNOC was contacted
by the Federal Environment Agency (FEA) and requested to provide assistance in
responding to the spill.
ADNOC’s initial spill response to the incident was limited as their oil spill warehouse hadburned to the ground on March 29, 2001, destroying the majority of ADNOC’s spill response
capability. Provisions to temporarily replace the lost equipment were immediately made.
This comprised positioning an offshore containment and recovery system from thePetroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) stockpile in Abu Dhabi to the Ruwais industrial area.
Additionally, arrangements were made to lease equipment from OSRL on an interim basis
until the destroyed equipment could be replaced. This equipment was enroute via aircraftfrom OSRL when ADNOC received the request to respond to the Zaynab spill.
ADNOC immediately mobilized two supply vessels with dispersant spraying capability to Port
Rashid in Dubai. A B-412 helicopter was also mobilized out of Abu Dhabi and proceeded to
Port Rashid with ADNOC’s only remaining helicopter spray bucket. Four staff were
mobilized from Abu Dhabi and Ruwais to assist in the response.
Recognizing there was a shortage of trained spill response personnel, ADNOC requested 4
staff from Oil Spill Response |Limited (OSRL) in Southampton. This team was on site in
Dubai on the morning of April 16th.
ADNOC responsibilities were initially identified as on water response operations. Early on in
the response ADNOC also assumed responsibility for providing technical advise to themunicipalities as well as aerial observation and tracking. The ADNOC helicopter was used
to conduct early morning surveillance of the spill area. Information from this aerial over flight
was then used to deploy dispersant operations and mechanical containment and recovery
systems. Information on those areas of the beach that had been most heavily oiled was also
passed onto the municipalities for them to deploy their beach cleaning teams. The lack of air
to ground communications hindered the ability of the aerial over flights to provide real time
information to the operational teams on the water.
Initially dispersants were the primary response technique. Both aerial and vessel spraying
operations were conducted. As the oil emulsified the effectiveness of the dispersantsrddecreased and it was agreed to stop using dispersant on the 3 day of the response. The
spill highlighted the need to improve the training for ADNOC vessel crews operating
dispersant systems and to maintain a better inventory of dispersant stocks in both the UAE
and the Gulf generally.
An offshore skimming system hired by the Dubai Ports Authority was used to provide theinitial mechanical containment and recovery response. Upon arrival in Dubai, ADNOC built
a second system using PAJ equipment. OSRL equipment that had been ordered from thethth
UK was held up in customs and did not arrive until the afternoon of April 17 . By April 18
there were 4 offshore containment and recovery systems operating immediately offshore of
Dubai. Fortunately the Dubai Dry-dock was immediately adjacent to Port Rashid and had
the facilities to handle recovered oil. Offloading of recovered oil was completed in thestevenings after the skimming systems had returned to port. By April 21 most of the oil waseither stranded ashore or corralled in Port Rashid. Offshore systems were demobilized andcleanup in the harbor commenced.

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The municipalities handled shoreline cleanup operations. This was undoubtedly the bestorganized and most effective element of the response. In particularly the Dubai municipality
was very well organized. Upon receiving notification of oil on the beach, a crew would be
dispatched to recover floating oil and oiled sand. The sand was immediately packaged inbags and hauled to landfills for disposal. If excessive quantities of sand had to be removed,
clean sand was hauled in to replace it.
The salvage of the remaining cargo on board the Zaynab was delayed over the issue of who
would pay for the operation. Eventually this was successfully negotiated and oil removalththcommenced on April 28 . The oil removal operation was completed by May 5 .
Approximately 750 tonnes of oil was removed from the wreck.
There were a number of lessons learned from this spill. In particular it was recognized that
there is a need for additional equipment and trained manpower to respond to significant spillincidents. Refinements are required to the methodology of managing a spill or any type of
emergency. The establishment of a pollution fund, which can be accessed immediately inthe event of a spill, would expedite response operations.
Following the Zaynab spill ADNOC developed a proposed strategy to address many of the
problems that were encountered. The remainder of this paper discusses the proposed
ADNOC strategy.
Tiered Response System
ADNOC and the Group Companies operate on a tiered system for oil spill response. This isa generally accepted practice in the oil industry internationally. Typically, each facility is
expected to maintain sufficient resources to handle small operational type spills. As the sizeof a spill increases beyond the capability of the affected facility, other resources can bemobilized from within, or outside the region. The tiered response capability is categorized asfollows:?? Tier I – Small operational type spills that can be handled using on site resources.
?? Tier II – A medium sized spill that exceeds the capability of on-site resources. Additional
resources from within the region are required to complete the clean up.

?? Tier III – A large spill that requires national or international resources .
ADNOC Strategy
In order to successfully respond to any type of emergency there are four essential
requirements:?? Equipment?? Trained manpower?? Organizational structure?? Defined plans
ADNOC is proposing a strategy that builds on the tiered concept and covers all four
elements of a response. This strategy is summarized in Table 1 below, showing therequirements for tier I, II & III responses.
For ADNOC Group Companies, tier I requirements for all elements of a response will be theresponsibility of the individual Operating Company. Tier II requirements will be theresponsibility of ADNOC, working in close liaison with the Operating Companies. ADNOC
will also assume responsibility for ensuring all tier III requirements are in place (see Table 1).

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Table 1
Proposed Spill Response Strategy

Responsibility

OperatingCompany

Tier

Equipment

ManpowerManagement

Plans

I

On-site Equipment?? Mechanical?? Dispersant

Minimum of
4 people per
facility

On-site Team

Facility
Specific Plan

ADNOC&
OperatingCompaniesII

ADNOC Spill
Response Center?? Mechanical?? Dispersant

ADNOC

III

?? PAJ?? OSRL?? GAOCAMO?? 6 man
ADNOC
Team?? Mutual Aid
fromfacilitiesrd

3 party contract

Combined Team
from the Group
Companiesrd

3 party contract

Area
Contingency
Plan

National
Contingency
Plan

Equipment
For tier I, each facility that has the potential to spill oil would be expected to have on siteequipment to facilitate an immediate response. This will comprise mechanical containmentand recovery equipment and/or dispersants, depending upon the circumstances at thefacility.
The ADNOC Pollution Officer will be available to provide expert advice on recommended
equipment purchases for individual facilities. This will ensure that the best equipment
selection is made, based on the unique operating environment of each operation and toensure equipment compatibility across the Group Companies and the ADNOC tier II
equipment.
ADNOC will maintain a tier II response capability to handle up to a 2000 tonne spill utilizing
mechanical containment and recovery techniques. This will be backed up with a dispersantcapability. This equipment will be strategically located within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The
exact positioning of the equipment will be determined based on a number of factors including,but not limited to; risk, access to adequate storage facilities and logistics (vessels).
This increase in spill response capability will meet ADNOC’s commitments to the Federal
Environment Agency (FEA) to stock and man two spill response bases in the Emirate of Abu
Dhabi, per the FEA National Contingency Plan.

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Under UAE Federal Law number 24, Act 1999, Article 2 of the National Contingency Plan for
the Control of Marine Environment Pollution, six operational oil spill centers are to beestablished around the country as follows:?? Western Area – Ruwais Center?? Western Area and Abu Dhabi – Abu Dhabi Center?? Abu Dhabi and Dubai – Jebel Ali Center?? Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman – Sharjah Center?? Umm Al Quwain & Ras Al Khaimah – Ras Al Khaimah Center?? Eastern Coast – Fujarah Center
ADNOC will be responsible for stocking and maintaining the Western Area centers in Ruwais
and Abu Dhabi. The equipment for these two centers is in the process of being purchasedand delivered. Once the Federal Environment Agency (FEA) completes stocking of theremaining four oil spill equipment bases in the UAE, this equipment will also be available fortier II response.
For tier III response, ADNOC maintains membership in the oil spill response organization,
Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) based out of Southampton, UK. ADNOC membershipcovers all of the ADNOC Group Companies. OSRL has the ability to provide trained
manpower and spill response equipment anywhere in the world within 24 hours of
notification. OSRL were activated by ADNOC for both the Al Jazya 1 and Zaynab pollution
incidents. ADNOC membership in OSRL will continue.
There is also a stockpile of equipment in Abu Dhabi, maintained by the Petroleum
Association of Japan (PAJ). This equipment can be made available on an as needed basis.
This equipment was utilized by ADNOC during the Al Jazya 1 and Zaynab pollution incidents.
It should be noted that PAJ is under no obligation to maintain this equipment in Abu Dhabi or
release it for a spill.
ADNOC is a member of the Gulf Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organization (GAOCMAO).
This is a mutual aid organization comprising oil companies operating in the Arabian Gulf.
GAOCMAO maintains a listing of oil spill equipment owned by each member. There are no
obligations under this agreement for members to provide equipment in the event of asignificant incident. Longer term, ADNOC views GAOCMAO as a potential building block fordeveloping a stronger tier III spill response capability within the Gulf region.
Manpower
To provide immediate tier I response capability, voluntary spill response teams will beestablished at each facility that has the potential to spill oil. A minimum of four trained
positions will be available at each facility. These personnel will hold positions within thefacility that allow them to be released for response in the event of an oil spill. Individual
facilities may choose at their discretion to increase the size of the team beyond four. The
ADNOC Oil Spill Center will provide the training necessary to ensure the competency of thevoluntary response teams. This will include initial training and an ongoing program tomaintain competency.
For tier II, the manpower at the ADNOC spill response center will be increased from thepresent level of two positions (Pollution Officer and Technician) to six; Pollution Officer, Lead
Technician/Trainer and four Technicians. The six positions will be fully staffed on a 365 day
per year basis. This team will be responsible for the maintenance and readiness of the tier I
equipment of the Operating Companies as well as the tier II spill response equipment. They
will provide training to the voluntary spill response teams at each facility. In addition to theDigital Business Client User

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six-man team from the ADNOC spill response center, the voluntary manpower trained ateach facility will be available for response to a tier II incident. An operating company
requiring additional trained manpower will be able to access personnel from other facilities.
A labor contract will be established with a company or group of companies to provide the
manpower that would be required to address a large tier III response. Previous experience
with large marine oil spills has shown that manpower requirements typically peak several
weeks into a spill. Depending upon the size of the spill and its location, manpower
requirements can easily exceed several thousand workers.
The contingency contracts to be put in place will articulate the commercial aspects
associated with the provision of the manpower, but will have no costs associated with themunless they are initiated by ADNOC.
Management
On-site management will handle a tier I oil spill, utilizing in-house resources. All Operating
Companies will adopt a single management structure for dealing with an emergency (oil spillor otherwise). The generally recognized system that is presently in use in much of the worldis the Incident Command System (ICS). ADNOC will commence training on ICS in 2002 for
ADNOC and the Group Companies. After the initial exposure to ICS, each Operating
Company will assume responsibility for ensuring their emergency response personnel areproperly trained in ICS. ADNOC will work with key government agencies to ensure they areknowledgeable regarding ICS.
Once ICS training has been provided, a list of qualified personnel within the Group
Companies will be developed and maintained. In a tier II event, Group Companies will havethe ability to access qualified personnel from other companies to assist in an emergency.
For a tier III event, a contingency contract will be established with a company or group ofcompanies to provide the trained management required to address a large response. There
are several organizations throughout the world that provide this type of service. The
contingency contracts will articulate the commercial aspects and will have no costs
associated with them unless they are actually initiated by ADNOC.
Plans
Each facility that has the potential to spill oil will develop and maintain a facility oil spill plan.
The Plan will include a risk assessment, identification of the local resources at risk, thestrategy (equipment, manpower, and management structure) to be used in responding to anoil spill and an operational plan for implementing the identified strategy.
A draft Area Contingency Plan for the Abu Dhabi offshore area (tier II) has been developed
for the FEA by the mutual aid organization, Abu Dhabi Emergency Support Committee of
Offshore Operators (ADESCO). This plan identifies the general strategy for responding to a
spill, the resources available in Abu Dhabi for response, and general sensitivities. It also
includes details on accessing tier II and tier III resources.
The FEA has developed a National Contingency Plan (tier III). The plan identifies the UAE
government’s general policy on responding to oil spills, establishment of six operational
response bases, the establishment of emergency committees to manage a spill response
and the establishment of area contingency plans.

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Challenges of Implementation
There are some significant challenges that will need to be overcome to fully implement thestrategy. The first challenge will be to obtain consensus amongst the various interested
parties. The stakeholders are many and varied. They include ADNOC, a number of thegroup companies, ADNOC industrial shareholders, UAE Coast Guard, Federal Environment
Agency (FEA), Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA), Civil
Defense, Municipality of Abu Dhabi, and others. Recent spill events have been a catalyst fora number of stakeholders to start addressing spill preparedness and response issues.
Coordination and consensus amongst all the stakeholders will be critical.
There will also be a significant commitment of resources required both from a financial andmanpower perspective. Cost sharing principles will need to be defined and implemented toensure that an equitable means of funding the strategy is in place as well as a cost recovery
mechanism.
This is a multi-year strategy that will require time to fully implement. Stakeholders will need
to be patient with the rate of implementation yet also ensure that regular progress is made.
A significant advantage in the ADNOC Group is the low rate of turnover in personnel. This
makes the training requirements much more manageable.
The strategy needs to be realistic and also sustainable vis-à-vis the spill risk and the cost of
implementation. Experience has shown that grand plans and commitments usually don’t
survive the scrutiny of time and economic justification. A compelling example of this occurredin the United States after the Exxon Valdez spill. The major oil shippers in the U.S.
committed 6 billion dollars to fund the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) for aperiod of 5 years. At the completion of the 5 years the MSRC organization was dramaticallydownsized and came under tight fiscal control from its owners.
The strategy also needs to be adaptable to change. As the risk profile and the ADNOC
business model changes over time, or the strategy is tested in a real event, it will need to beconstantly scrutinized to ensure it is keeping pace with the changing business environment.
This will keep the strategy from becoming outdated, particularly in today’s fast paced
environment. This need to identify, evaluate, manage and review risk is identified andarticulated in both the ADNOC HSE Risk Management Guideline and the HSEMSManagement System Guidelines.
The prize that awaits us for successful implementation of this strategy is an order ofmagnitude improvement in response capability. ADNOC believes that this response strategy
is measured, timely, coordinated and cost effective. It will focus all the stakeholders on thecommon goals of protecting the delicate biological environment of the region and the socioeconomic structure on which we rely, while being fiscally responsible. Successful
implementation of this response strategy will have positive impacts for ADNOC, Abu Dhabi,
the UAE and the Gulf region generally.
References
1

Carl Bro International a/s, Ruwais and Area Contingency Planning Study for Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company, March 1999

2

Shams El Din, A.M., Shawki Aziz, and B. Makkawi. 1997. Electricity and water productionin the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and its impact on the environment. Desalination, 97 (1994)
373-388

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3

BP Amoco Statistical Review of World Energy 2000

4

Al-Majed, N., Hassan Mohammadi, Abdulnabi Al-Ghadban. October 2000. Regional Reportof the State of the Marine Environment. Regional Organization for the Protection of the
Marine Environment (ROPME).

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