THE ADNOC 1999 OIL SPILL EXERCISE“EXERCISE GHAZAL”
by Edward Svitil
Crisis Management Coordinator
ADNOC Environment & Safety Division
At 7:50AM on the morning of October 4th, 1999, the VLCC British Resource, a BP
Amoco tanker outbound to BP Amoco in Australia, nearly collided with a Chinese
fishing trawler, the Cheng Pu III. The British Resource had just completed loading
more than 260,000 tons of Umm Shaif crude oil from a loading point near ADMAOPCO’s Das Island facility. The evasive actions taken by the British Resource toavoid the trawler resulted in her grounding and spilling more than 4,000 tons of crude
oil into the Arabian Gulf.
This major spill threatened numerous bird nesting and breeding areas, turtle
hatcheries, dugong feeding sites and coral reefs located in the Gulf. It was
discovered that the estimated trajectory of the spilled oil would see this oil groundingon the shoreline of the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, posing asevere environmental and commercial disaster.
The spill threatened the desalinization plants that provide water to a local populationof more than half a million people. It had the potential to strike the tourist beaches
and other recreational facilities located along the UAE coastline at the many five-star
hotels. It presented the apparition of a major catastrophe to fish hatcheries alreadydecimated by the Pontoon 300 fuel oil spill in January 1998 as well as the mangrove
forests which provide shelter to small fish and other sea creatures providing a
livelihood to dozens of fishermen and their families. Several crewmen on board thevessels were seriously injured.
It was the unthinkable disaster that could never happen…and fortunately did not.
This was the scenario of the largest oil spill exercise ever conducted in the Arabian
Gulf – the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s EXERCISE GHAZAL.
EXERCISE GHAZAL brought together from within Abu Dhabi the combined
resources of the ADNOC Group of Companies – its own Crisis Management Team,ADMA-OPCO, NMS, PPA, ADPPOC, ADESCO and ADNOC-FOD. Commercialorganizations such as Abu Dhabi Aviation, Lamnalco, the Hilton Hotel and Gulf
Agency played key roles. The Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club provided
the equipment deployment site. International responders from Oil Spill ResponseLtd. in the UK and the Petroleum Association of Japan flew equipment andmanpower in from thousands of miles away to assist in the response to thissimulated major oil spill.

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One of ADNOC’s most important shareholder companies, BP Amoco, activated its
local emergency center in Abu Dhabi and its Shipping Emergency Center in Hemel
Hempstead, UK, in response to the hazardous situation presented by one of its
vessels and the oil spilling from it into the Gulf. BP Amoco also had to quickly
handle the evacuation and medical treatment of several seriously injured crewmen
on board the British Resource.
And most importantly, EXERCISE GHAZAL relied on the support and cooperation ofkey government agencies such as the Federal Environmental Agency, theEnvironmental Resource and Wildlife Development Agency and the Frontier andCoast Guard. The Police Air Wing, Civil Defense, Customs, Mina Zayed Port,Ministry of Health, the General Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Control as wellas other ministries and agencies also played major roles in the response to thesimulated oil spill.
Planning for EXERCISE GHAZAL began more than one year ago, reflecting theimportance that the ADNOC HSE Management System places on its companies andpeople being prepared to respond to emergencies and incidents that affect ADNOC’s
business and the communities that may be nearby. The planning for this oil spill
exercise involved many of the participants in the exercise, and included a strong
media response, just as would be expected in a real incident.
Once the Petroleum Ports Office on Das Island received the first report of the oil spill,calls were immediately made to ADMA-OPCO, BP Amoco and ADNOC inaccordance with established procedures.
ADMA-OPCO and ADNOC senior
management acted quickly to activate the crisis and emergency response centers torespond to the oil spill. BP Amoco Shipping called in regional and international
salvage companies to stabilize the British Resource and to stop the flow of oil.
The Emergency Response Center in ADMA-OPCO quickly assumed the lead role inmanaging all aspects of the spill response efforts. Under the leadership of theIncident Commander, Emergency Support Team members moved easily into theirassigned roles and responsibilities, relying on their training and experience inoperations, logistics, planning, finance and public affairs to determine the facts of theincident, formulate response strategies and keep management informed.
The Operations Manager, for example, has the responsibility to manage all aspectsof the physical response to the spill. He and his staff ensure that oil spill booms arecorrectly placed to protect sensitive areas and that dispersant spraying vessels from
National Marine Services are dispatched to break up the oil slick heading towards
Abu Dhabi. His staff also coordinates the aviation missions to locate the slick, report
its location back to the Emergency Center, and perform aerial dispersant sorties toassist in breaking up the oil slick before it damages the coastline.
The Logistics Manager has the key role of ensuring that Operations has everything itneeds to do its job. All areas of the spill response are covered by Logistics; oil spillbooms, vessels, trucks, fuel to operate the equipment, food, water andaccommodations for those workers from outside the area – the list goes on and on.
As an oil spill response can go on for many weeks, even months and years, it isreadily apparent that Logistics has an important job.
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All of the activities overseen by Operations and supported by Logistics are under thedirect guidance of the Planning Manager. He and his staff determine the trajectoryof the oil spill, when it will affect sensitive locations, what response actions to take atthese locations, and how to respond. He also has the critical job of ensuring that thehealth and safety of the workers is protected, and when the temperatures andhumidity of the Gulf Region are considered, this is an important part of preventinginjuries. All of the environmental aspects of an oil spill are under the supervision of
the Planning Manager and his team.
The Finance and Legal Manager work closely together to minimize and track all of
the costs of the oil spill response; not only the out of pocket expenses for themanpower and equipment, but the possible claims for damages from those people
who may be affected by the spill. This could include fishermen whose nets havebeen damaged or fishing grounds destroyed; hotels whose beaches are oiled andhave had guests cancel their reservations; boat owners whose boats are now
covered in oil; and other people who may be affected by an incident such as this.
The Public Relations Manager has one of the most important jobs of all; hisresponsibility is to keep the community informed through the media of the facts of theoil spill and the response efforts of industry and the government. The Public
Relations Manager issues many press statements, employee advisories, takes
numerous telephone and fax inquiries and conducts press conferences. He has toensure that the facts of the incident are published quickly and accurately, to avoid
erroneous statements or speculation on the cause and effects of the oil spill.
All these Response Team Members worked together with the government torespond to the oil spill from the British Resource. Once the location of the spill wasdetermined, a computerized tracking program was used to develop the trajectory ofthe oil and where and when it would hit the coastline.
Oil spill response equipment from the PPA Oil Spill Response Center at Ruwais, thePAJ equipment base at Mussafah, and the OSRL stockpile in Southampton, UK
were all activated and ordered to deploy to Abu Dhabi. The OSRL Hercules aircraftwas flown from the UK along with an aerial dispersant spraying system, theADDSPACK, to apply large quantities of dispersant to the oil slick. Helicopters fromAbu Dhabi Aviation at Bateen Airport were equipped with underslung dispersant
spray buckets to assist in fighting the spill.
Once the oil spill response equipment arrived at the deployment site in Abu Dhabi,
crews immediately set to work to prepare for the arrival of the oil slick. Under a hotsun, the multi-national force of oil spill response experts worked together as a teamto unload containers of spill equipment and deploy the oil spill boom, anchors,skimmers and other gear used to protect the identified environmentally andcommercially sensitive sites. Using vessels and cranes to help in the difficult
handwork of deploying the equipment, the booms were all set and ready within a few
hours.

3GHAZALNARRATIVEAt sea three NMS vessels were hard at work preparing to recover the oil from thesea, skimming the oil into portable containers for transfer to ADNOC-FOD trucks andthen to a disposal site selected by Abu Dhabi Municipality. Aircraft from Abu Dhabi
Aviation and OSRL flew many sorties of simulated dispersant to demonstrate theirreadiness to respond to a real emergency.
The General Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Control handled the coordinationof aircraft flights. Ambulances from the Ministry of Health stood by to treat any
injured personnel from the deployment and fire trucks from Civil Defense wereavailable if needed. The Ministry of Interior had been involved in the planning for theentire exercise from the security and crowd control viewpoint, and the police werealways ready to assist if required.
To ensure that the exercise was conducted as realistically as possible, more than 15role players were selected to provide inputs in the form of faxes, telephone calls, andquestions raised during two full-scale press conferences. These role players acted
as fishermen who could not employ their nets; hotels who may have filed claims fordamages to their beaches; and high ranking officials of the Supreme Petroleum
Council and the government who wanted to be kept informed. Environmentalorganizations such as Greenpeace placed telephone calls and faxed copies of“press releases” they would make to the media.
Real members of the UAE press acted as role playing reporters who were trying todevelop a story for tomorrow’s newspaper and radio broadcasts. Other role players
served as relatives of two injured crewmen on board the BP Amoco tanker and thefishing boat expressing their concern over the fate of their loved ones. And since ina real oil spill incident there would be many people offering help, two role players
acted as volunteers to offer their services to help clean any oiled birds and wildlife orcontaminated beaches.
The importance of the response role of local and Federal government in EXERCISE
GHAZAL cannot be overstated. EXERCISE GHAZAL was the first major oil spill
exercise in the United Arab Emirates where all key government agencies wereinvolved in the planning and execution of the scenario.
The Federal Environmental Agency, Coast Guard and Environmental Resource andWildlife Development Agency served as the lead agencies in the exercise response.
ERWDA’s role, for example, is to assist the ADMA-OPCO Planning Manager indetermining the most sensitive environmental sites that may be affected by the oilspill, prioritizing the response, and selecting the best tactics to protect that site. This
could involve use of dispersant, booming of especially sensitive sites, and evenremoval of some of the wildlife, which could be contaminated by oil.
The FEA is directed by Federal legislation to assume full responsibility for oil spill
response in the UAE. The FEA oversees the activities of the responding party, inthis case ADMA-OPCO, to be sure that the citizens and the environment of Abu
Dhabi are protected. The FEA can use its Federal power to control all aspects of theoil spill response and take appropriate action if required.

4GHAZALNARRATIVEThe Coast Guard, by providing security at sea, ensures that the area involved in theoil spill response is protected from curiosity seekers and other vessels that may
interfere with the activities of the oil spill. The Coast Guard also helps inreconnaissance and tracking of the spill and in the rescue of any vessels at sea that
may be affected in the original collision and subsequent events.
Other government agencies provide such essential services as ambulances andmedical personnel, communications, on-shore and offshore security, clearance ofincoming supplies and equipment, port operations, aviation operations, and manyother activities.
The message is TEAMWORK between industry and government to fight thecommon enemy, the oil spill.
The main objectives of EXERCISE GHAZAL were:••••

Test ADNOC and ADMA-OPCO spill response plans
Mount an effective media response
Coordinate oil spill response with BP Amoco and government agencies
Evaluate the effectiveness of oil spill response equipment deployment.

How did ADNOC and ADMA-OPCO perform during EXERCISE GHAZAL to meetthese objectives? The answer is that all of the objectives set for the exercise wereachieved. In addition, ADNOC learned five major lessons:•••••

Joint industry and government partnership in response to an incident works
The use of the Incident Command System (ICS) focuses the response effort
Major oil spill response equipment can be activated and deployed to Abu
Dhabi in 6 - 24 hours
Joint drills and exercises between government and industry increase thebenefits for all involved parties
Communications is the greatest challenge.

What are the next steps for ADNOC and the UAE government to improve thereadiness for an oil spill incident in Abu Dhabi waters? ADNOC will work with thegovernment to:•••••

Develop and implement a National Contingency Plan for Abu Dhabi and theUAE
Use the Incident Command System as the primary response structure of theNational Contingency Plan
Ensure that government agencies participate in all future exercises
Improve our communications during an emergency
Develop, train and exercise an ADNOC Group Company-wide oil spill
response team.

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EXERCISE GHAZAL accomplished many objectives in a short period of time. The
hard work and efforts of all of the planners and participants for this major oil spill
exercise resulted in identification of things done well, and the issues that need to beaddressed. ADNOC and the UAE government demonstrated that by working
together as a team, the effects of a major oil spill could be minimized.
While ADNOC works constantly to ensure that an incident such as this never
happens, its people train and prepare for the unthinkable.

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