PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION OF JAPANOIL SPILL SYMPOSIUM 2006

SAUDI ARAMCO
Oil Spill Prevention and Response
By Ali A. Al- MohsenFebruary 24, 2006

International Convention Room, 11th floor
Keidanren Building, Tokyo, Japan

INTRODUCTION
Saudi Aramco is a fully integrated Global Petroleum enterprise of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. The company has been in business for more than 70 years and has operations
in exploration, production, refining, marketing and international shipping. The company
headquarters is in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco will assure that its operations do not create undue risks to theenvironment or public health, and will conduct its operations with full concern for theprotection of the land, air and water from pollution. The company will promote
environmentally sound waste disposal practices and cost effective waste minimization
through source reduction, reuse and recycling.
In all its activities, the company will meet the standards specified by the Kingdom’senvironmental regulations. Where there are no established standards, guidelines will
be developed which are compatible with the Kingdom’s objective of environmentalprotection. The company will cooperate and participate with government and industry,
as appropriate, in the development of effective environmental control programs andregulations.
It is the responsibility of each organization to assure that its facilities are designed andoperated in compliance with the established corporate Environmental Protection Policy
and that they do not present unnecessary risks to the environment or public health.

OIL SPILL PREVENTION
Prevention of accidents, leaks, and spills from company operations is always
considered high priority. The company analyzed all possible sources of pollution andestablished all preventive measures to ensure that operation will not cause any harm tothe environment. For example, tanker operation will have to meet certain acceptancesafety standards and requirements that are designed to reduce oil spills during loading,unloading or while transiting from one location to another. The company has also built
several proactive systems in place designed to eliminate oil spillage or leakage fromany offshore facilities including pipelines or platforms and loading terminals.
Other measures are also taken to ensure onshore oil production and pipelines facilities
are always well maintained to prevent sudden operational failure which may result indamages to the environment for example these measures include, but not limited to:
1. Each offshore platform is equipped with slop tank to collect any oil for recycling.
2. Aid to navigation to keep marine vessels away from all oil platforms, which is toeliminate risk of collision.
3. Critical locations are marked to prevent marine vessels grounding or contacting
any subsea facilities and guide marine traffic.
4. Periodic diving and above water inspection are regularly performed to ensure
integrity of the offshore production facilities.

5. Emergency shutdown systems are always integrated in all oil production facilities.
EFFECTS OF OIL SPILL IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT
Whenever there is a major oil spill into the sea there is the possibility of damage to thefollowing:- Marine mammals- Marine corals and plants- Mangroves and salt marshes- Sea birds- Industrial plants (desalination plants, power plants and refinery water intakes)- Recreational activities
As the Gulf is a major oil shipping and production area, to protect the marine
environment, Saudi Aramco made it mandatory requirements that each contractor orcompany employee observing an oil spill must report the spill to the oil spill response
coordinator through offices manned 24-hours wherever we operate. The response
coordinator is responsible for activating the response system and alerting otherorganizations if necessary.

CONTINGENCY PLANS
Since the early 1970s, Saudi Aramco has had in place, a contingency plan covering its
operations. It is in line with the company’s position as an environmentally responsible
petroleum producer and exporter. Due to the expansion of the company’s operations
over the years, a Global Oil Spill Contingency Plan was developed covering itsworldwide areas of operation. The plan establishes an oil spill policy for Saudi
Aramco’s worldwide operations and directs Saudi Aramco and its affiliates to join major
oil spill cooperatives to provide additional resources as deemed necessary. The planalso assigns regional responsibility for oil spills and requires the development,implementation and maintenance of regional and owner tanker oil spill response plans.
The regional plans outline formal notification procedures and local high-risk areas. Theplans also define response options and identify available resources for combating oilspills. Specifically for Saudi Aramco’s operations in Kingdom, two regional plans havebeen developed for the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea.

RESPONSE ORGANIZATION
As part of Saudi Aramco’s oil spill contingency plans, functional organizations were
designed to be activated in case of an oil spill. These functional organizations include
the following:-A committee of executives meets on regular basis to review oil spill prevention
and preparedness activities, they also meet during major spill emergencies todiscuss the immediate actions to be taken to effectively contain and control thespill.--A dedicated Global Oil Spill Response function has been established to oversee
the Company’s readiness to respond to oil spills and ensure compliance of theCompany’s operations with established standards and regulations.
An Oil Spill Response Team (OSRT) has been set up for each facility. The teammembers are called upon during response to major spills.

POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
Saudi Aramco own, operate and maintains several large stockpiles of pollution control
equipment which are located and ready to be deployed on short notice in Saudi Arabia.
Two major bases are located near the coast of the Arabian Gulf and another fivesmaller bases close to Red Sea shorelines, this equipment are mainly placed torespond for company oil spill emergency and also assist with other oil spill if they everoccur close to our operating areas.
Also the company owns operate and maintain two dedicated Air Tractors 802 to be
used for chemical dispersant applications, and several helicopters which can be used
for surveying and spotting oil spills. The marine fleet is equipped with vessels toprovide capabilities for deep and shallow waters; these boats are very specialized andcan be used for equipment deployment, mechanical recovery, recovered oil storage,
chemical dispersant applications and may be used for agitation.
In addition to the owned and operated equipment by the company, Saudi Aramco
maintains memberships with several oil spill cooperatives and mutual aid organizations
such as Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), Regional Clean Sea Organization (RECSO).
Recently Saudi Aramco and other National Oil Companies just developed anotheragreement to share pollution control equipment and experience among membercompanies. This agreement is now being circulated for approval, once this agreement
is approved, it will provide further access to more experienced personnel and additional
equipment all over the world.

OIL SPILL TRAINING
We strongly believe that having a Contingency Plan and all the equipments will not beenough to clean the marine environment unless qualified personnel are available to leadthe clean-up action during emergencies.
With the above in mind, Saudi Aramco has committed a substantial amount of efforts,
time and money to train employees in current oil spill control techniques, the training
include the following:
1. Equipment hands-on
2. Supervisory level
3. Crisis management

OIL SPILL DRILLS
We strongly believe that realistic oil spill drills are additional training to enhance
response to spill emergencies. For many years we have held drills to improve thereadiness level of our responders. Also in the past few years, we have held many
international joint oil spill drills. The last one was conducted recently with Petroleum
Development of Oman off the coast of Muscat, Oman.
As a result we gained great experience especially in sharing equipment andexperiences with each other. Also pollution control equipment mobilization anddemobilization among countries has been done many times and became much faster.

SUMMARY
Marine oil spills can be extremely costly and disastrous. The presentation will detail
how Saudi Aramco prevents oil spills and respond effectively in case it ever occurs.