Saudi Aramco
Oil Spill Contingency Plan

ByA.S. Zaindin

Petroleum Association Of JapanOil Spill Symposium 96
March 4-5, 1996
Hotel Okura (Annex 2F, Roam Momoyama)
2-10-4, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan

Overview
The importance of the Arabian Gulf to the economy of the region and of the world
cannot be overstated. More than a quarter of the world's crude oil is produced by theGulf States in the region and there is also significant offshore gas and NJL production.
Billions of barrels of crude oil are loaded through terminals on the Gulf and transportedby thousands of tankers to most parts of the world, every year. Inherent in this activity,
however, is a considerable environmental risk.
Recognizing the importance of the Arabian Gulf as a source of food and water supply, as
well as providing work and living for many of its coastal residents, the national
agencies and the oil industry go to great lengths to ensure the safety of operations andto protect the marine environments. The emphasis is always on preventing the escapeor accidental spillage of oil but when spills occur, governments and industry have inplace oil spill contingency plans supported by equipment, to provide a suitableresponse.

Saudi Arabian National Contingency Plan
The Saudi Arabian National Contingency Plan for Combating Marine Environment
Pollution by Oil and Other Harmful Substances was approved in February 1991. The
plan seeks to establish mechanisms for coordinated and swift response to protect themarine environment and the Saudi coastline from the effects of pollution through themaximum use of available regional and international resources.
It is the policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that exploration for oil and the handlingand transportation of oil and other harmful substances is to be carried out in such amanner as to minimize the risk of environmental and economic damage or threat topublic health. In the event that a spillage does occur, swift and effective action will betaken to minimize the environmental and public health and welfare risks resulting
from that spillage.
The plan designates the Saudi Arabian Meteorology and Environmental Protection
Administration (MEPA) as the national response coordinator for oil spill activities. Theplan, also, establish national, area-wide and local responsibility for oil spill preventionand control as well as the development of area and local response plans.

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The various activities associated with response to pollution accidents on the nationallevel are assigned to MEPA. Under the National Plan, MEPA shall formulate, publish
and monitor the implementation of the policies, regulations and procedures forpollution fighting and control. MEPA undertakes surveillance and studies necessary
for tracking oil spills. Also, it conducts environmental studies to ascertain the impact ofpollution. During response to major spill crisis, MEPA shall determine equipment
requirements to implement the National Plan.
The National Plan requires the development of area and local response plans. Areaplans for the Arabian Gulf and for the red sea shall be developed by its respective AreaOperations Committee. Under the chairmanship of MEPA and membership fromvarious concerned ministries, an Area Operations Committee shall be formulated foreach of Arabian Gulf and Red Sea. The Area Plan shall detail the operational guidelines
and procedures that are necessary for the response to pollution accidents which require
an area-wide response. All organizations that have marine or coastal installations orfacilities each within its own jurisdiction shall formulate local plans for pollution
fighting.
Response activities to control pollution nationwide shall be coordinated by MEPA toensure maximum efficiency for the use of national and international resources. On theregional level, the respective Area Operations Committees in the Arabian Gulf and in
the Red Sea shall plan and coordinate response activities in each of the two areas in thecases of pollution that require an area-wide response. On the local level, allorganizations which have marine or coastal installations or facilities shall provide themanpower and equipment necessary to protect them and to carry out pollution fighting
activities and cleanup within their respective facilities. Each organization shall appoint
an official in charge of response to pollution in every installation or area under its
jurisdiction. Outside those areas where no responsibility is assigned, MEPA shallassume the responsibility for pollution response.

Saudi Aramco Oil Spill Contingency Plan
Saudi Aramco's earliest efforts were focused on self-sufficiency in handling spills, andthe company built specialized oil spill recovery and containment vessels, and purchased
equipment and materials to combat spills. In 1989 Saudi Aramco designated a task

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force and a high level review committee to assess our capability worldwide and makerecommendations where needed.
As a result of the review task force recommendations, we have developed the Global Oil
Spill Contingency Plan.
-The plan establishes an oil spill policy for Saudi Aramco's worldwideoperations.

-It directs Saudi Aramco and its affiliates to join major cooperatives.

-It assigns regional responsibility for oil spills and requires the development,implementation, and maintenance of regional and owned tanker oil spill plans.
The regional plane outline formal notification procedures for involved
countries, and Saudi Aramco. Regional plans include local legislativerequirements, define response options, and identify available resources forcombating oil spills.

Recognizing the potential impact of oil spills, a management-level Oil Spill Committee
was established in 1990. It sets overall policy regarding the prevention and cleanup ofoil spills resulting from Saudi Aramco operations. A permanent organization, theGlobal Oil Spill Coordination Group, was established to execute and Coordinate allactivities of the company relating to prevention and control of marine oil spills. In theevent of an oil spill, the Regional Oil Spill Coordinator (ROSC) directs an Oil Spill
Response Team (OSRT) to combat the spill. He has responsibility for all activities
related to activating the response team including: safe & efficient control, cleanup
operations, disposal, restoration, and documentation of oil spills. A contingency plan
has been formalized and developed for each region.
Oil pollution control equipment is staged at both the Arabian Gulf and at the Red Sea.
At the Arabian Gulf, equipment is located at Tanajib up north and at Ras Tanura downsouth. Equipment includes recovery vessels, booms, skimmers, storage barges, air andsea born dispersant systems.
At the Red Sea region we staged equipment at each facilities. Equipment at eachlocation was designed as a tier 1 to handle small to medium size spills in the vicinity of3each facility. In the event of a major oil spill which is believed to be beyond local
response capability, extra resources will be brought in from Ras Tanura and from othersources as deemed necessary.
In order to strengthen Saudi Aramco's oil spill combatting capabilities, the company
has acquired membership and participation on an international scale, in organizations
that provide cooperative assistance in the event of an oil spill and sharing of oil spilltechnology. These organizations are: Oil Spill Response (OSR) Ltd. at England whichcurrently provides a worldwide spill response capability; Clean Caribbean Cooperative(CCC) for the Caribbean Sea area; the Marine Preservation Association (MPA) in theunited states; Marine Industry Response Group (MIRG) in the Gulf of Mexico, and Gulf
Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organization (GAOCMAO) in the Arabian Gulf. Inaddition, we recognize the two equipment stockpiles which were recently staged by
Japan at each of Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia and at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The
staging of the two stockpiles are considered to be a big step for enhancing response
capability in the region.
In order to enhance the company's readiness to combat oil spills, specialized response
training courses are conducted to ensure readiness of company personnel. These aretargeted for company employees that form the regional oil spill response team. Ourtraining takes different levels: operators or hands on, supervisors level, andmanagement crisis courses. In addition, annual oil spill exercises are conducted to test
our contingency plans and the readiness of the oil spill response teams. For example,
one response course and one exercise are scheduled in 1996 for each of Rabigh Refineryand Yanbu operations in the Red Sea coast. Response courses are normally run for 3 to
5 days by the training staff of the Oil Spill Response Limited in England. Exercises arerun for one day. Concerned governmental agencies are usually invited to attend Saudi
Aramco training courses and exercises.

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