Industry’s Responsibility in Copingwith New Oil Spill Risks.

Petroleum Association of Japan
22nd & 23rd February 2007

Oil Spill Response and East Asia Response Limited

A Question for Debate?
 "What really are the new oil spill risks
and is it the oil industry's
responsibility to make the entire
contingency for them?“ Increased awareness of theenvironment and high profile oil
industry developments create asituation where it is easy to put blameon the oil industry and force them tomake unnecessary and unrealistic
contingencies for oil spills.

1Environmental Awareness A major report on climate change says it is"very likely" that global warming is causedby human activity. The temperature could
rise by up to 4 C by 2100 and sea levels
could rise by up to 29 cm.
“ dire warning over the impact ofgreenhouse gasses pouring into theatmosphere from burning fossil fuels,
highest level for 650,000 years
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Bad Oil?
 “Exxon Valdez oil persists off Alaska”
Web news 1st Feb 07.
“…small amounts of residual oil in Prince
William Sound on about two-tenths of one
per cent of the shore…”
 “The Petron/Solar 1 oil spill shows thefailure of corporations to concretize theirsocial responsibility and of government toperform its regulatory functions.”2

Prestige Spain
77,000t

Erika,France. 15,000t

Recreational Use.
Palm Island
 120km shoreline
 60 hotels
 1000 waterfront
homes 5000 other shoreline
units including
apartments, marinas,shops, restaurants
etc.

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Major Oil Industry Developments
 Sakhalin Kazhakstan
 West Africa deep water Arctic fields.
 Major pipeline developments in theCaspian, Georgia and Turkey etc.

The Concept of Tiered Response Tier 1; arrangements at individual ports
or oil handling facilities. Small spills.
 Tier 2; provides for pooling of resources,government and private, locally or wider
geographic area.Local cooperatives.
 Tier 3; combines national or international
response that cannot be dealt with under
Tier 2. Cooperative arrangements avoid
duplication of resources rarely used.

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Global Response Framework
International

Tier 3

Regional
Tier 2Tier 1

National

InterInter-regional
Agreements
MultiMulti-lateral Plans
Country PlanArea
Local

Industry

Authorities

Source: IMO

Pressure on the Oil Industry
 More equipment and stockpiles
everywhere!
– Middle East, North Africa, Sakhalin.

 Local production to pay for passing tanker
pollution?
– Oman, North Africa, Unrealistic expectations for response.
– Russia, USA?

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Location of Largest Tanker Spills

Courtesy ITOPF

Effective Response Effective response requires;– Trained people…….
– working to a well developed plan…..
– that has been properly resourced…..
– and regularly exercised.
 Industry and government working inpartnership.

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The Tiered Response Structure
large

333

medium223

small1

2

2

local

vicinity

remoteSizeofSpill

Courtesy IPIECA

Proximity to operations

Summary The concept of “new risks” is unfounded Setting up more stockpiles to mitigate theimpact of spills is naïve.
 Governments are perhaps abdicating their
responsibility by putting everything to the oilindustry.
 Effective response is more than equipment.
 The Tiered response structure is valuable
and needs to be retained and promoted.

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