Petroleum Association of Japan Oil Spill Symposium 2006
Petroleum Association of Japan
Major Oil Spill Response Program,Its activities and development since foundation in 1990.
Presented
byAndrew M. Crawford
Petroleum Association of Japan Oil
Technical AdvisorTokyo
23 - 24 February 2006
In this presentation I will explain about the Petroleum Association of Japan, Major Oil Spill
Response Programme, the history behind its set up, past milestones and performance, present
situation and a view to the future.

Background and About Petroleum Association of JapanThe Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) is a trade association comprised of 17 Oil companies
engaged in the refining and/or marketing of oil in Japan. While PAJ deals with all mattersconcerning the refining and marketing of oil, the main functions performed by PAJ are as follows:1.

To promote better communication and understanding among member companies.

2.

To represent the industry's opinions or proposals to the Government, industrial
associations, the media and the general public.

3.

To study and coordinate activities relating to important petroleum issues and toprovide information on such issues, including the following:•
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Energy and petroleum policies at home and abroadLong-term forecasts of the supply and demand of oil
Distribution, transportation and stockpiles
Standardisation and other technological problems
Tax systems and financing problems
To publish information on important issues facing the petroleum industry
Environmental protection and safety

On March 24, 1989, shortly after midnight, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince
William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil. The spill was the largest
in U.S. history and tested the abilities of local, national, international and industrial organizations to
prepare for, and respond to, a disaster of such magnitude. Many factors complicated the cleanup
efforts following the spill. The size of the spill and its remote location, accessible only by helicopterand boat, made government and industry efforts difficult and tested existing plans for dealing withsuch an event.
This single event brought about a global change in the way the public, oil industry and governments
regarded oil spills and laid the foundations for a huge change in legislation and company practiceeffecting the way that oil is produced, transported, refined and stored. These changes are still on
going today and we can assume will continue to be implemented far into the future to protect ourenvironment and our respective organisations from the effects of pollution caused by major oil
spills.
Almost as a direct result of Exxon Valdez, things had to change. Public opinion fuelled by the daily
images of the incident beamed across the world by the media fuelled the legislators in action andshortly after the cleanup operations were scaled down in August of 1990 the Oil Pollution Act 1990
was signed into law in the United States of America. Shortly after that in November the OPRC
Convention was adopted which came into force in May 1995. Post Exxon Valdez forced eachcompany and country took a long hard look at its contingency plans and regulations and in mostcases many changes were made in line with the new regulations and with revised company practices.
In Japan the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry MITI now Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry METI arranged for a government subsidy in 1990 and in 1991 Petroleum
Association of Japan began the implementation of this Major Oil Spill Response Programme
MOSRP.

The issues facing Petroleum Association of Japan in the beginning were:
How to make this system work and be most effective.
Where to put the stockpile bases so they would be safe and close to the risks.
What equipment to Stockpile and how to arrange it.
Who would maintain and use the equipment in the event of a Major incident.

How.
Petroleum Association of Japan is not an oil spill response organisation and did not want to get into
this business but they did want to help in the most constructive way. When there is a major oil spillincident, one of the biggest problems is with having enough equipment on site to be effective. So
Petroleum Association of Japan decided that the programme should have stockpiles of equipment
ant geographically convenient places along the oil route. Since Petroleum Association of Japan did
not want to be the primary source of equipment it was stated that the equipment be used as asecondary resource and only available to the borrower when the primary equipment had been
mobilised. So the borrower has to apply to Petroleum Association of Japan and sign a contract andthen the equipment is made available to the borrower. Once the contract is signed the responsibilityof the equipment then passes to the borrower and they have to take care of it transport, operate it
and look after it until it is ready to be returned to Petroleum Association of Japan. The equipment
would be loaned to the borrower at no cost but the borrower would need to repair and clean theequipment after use and return it to the base within 3 months of the date of borrowing so as it can beavailable again should there be another incident.

WhereWhere to put the bases was a good question, oil is imported into Japan from the middle east and theoil route from the middle east passes a number of countries. Research showed that the mostdangerous area for the oil tankers carrying oil to Japan was firstly in the countries where they
originate, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, the area around the Malacca straits involving
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and the final destination points in Japan. It was therefore
decided that these are the places where the bases should be and so 11 bases in total should beestablished. Six would be on mainland Japan and five in overseas locations. Looking at the risks thefollowing locations in Japan were decided.
Number 1 Base in Tokyo Bay at Kyokuto Petroleum Industries Refinery at Ichihara
Number 2 Base in Seto Inland Sea at Japan Energy Corp. at Mizushima
Number 3 Base in Ise Bay at the Cosmo Oil Refinery in Yokkaichi
Number 4 Base in the Sea of Japan at the Showa Shell facilities in Niigata
Number 5 Base in Hokkaido at the Nippon Oil Refinery in Muroran
Number 6 Base in Okinawa at the Idemitsu Kosan facilities in Henza
Each of these companies in Japan made a space within their facilities for the Petroleum Associationof Japan equipment to be placed and these were called bases and were near to the road so theequipment could easily be collected or delivered by truck.
With regards to the overseas bases it was decided that near Japanese facilities or Japanese owned
logistics companies would be the best place to put these facilities so the following sites were chosen
Number 7 Base in Singapore at Singapore Oil Spill Response base in Jurong
Number 8 Base in Saudi Arabia at Arabian Oil Company facilities (now KJO )in Ras Al Khafji
Number 9 Base in Malaysia at Nippon Express warehouse in Port Klang
Number 10 Base on UAE at ADOC facilities in Mussaffa, Abu Dhabi
Number 11 Base in Indonesia at Nippon Express warehouse in Jakarta
What
The selection of equipment to put in these bases was very important, also how to arrange it there sothat it would be ready to go. It was decided after a review of worldwide response bases and oil spill
response operations that a selection of well proven equipment from various suppliers located bothoverseas and from Japan would be most appropriate. Initially each base would have 1000 meters ofoffshore boom and 4 skimmer systems. This is the basic necessity to any major oil spill and would
form the basis of the programme. The equipment would be supplemented each year with otherequipment which was useful and formed part of the system for any large scale oil spill incident.
Each complete system such as skimmer or boom system was to have its own container with powerpack and spare parts etc so not only could the equipment be kept together, it could be loaned out as
separate packages when necessary. The containers would also help to protect the equipment and it
would also mean that the equipment was ready for transportation at a moments notice. It was
decided to keep the equipment almost identical at each base so this would make the maintenanceand training easier and add some uniformity to each base.
WhoSince Petroleum Association of Japan does not have maintenance staff to look after the equipment a
maintenance contractor was appointed for each base to make monthly maintenance on theequipment and make sure it is ready to go at a moments notice. The equipment in bases in Japan
where the equipment is stored is an outside area so the maintenance is a key issue here. The
manufacturer was asked to provide an initial commissioning and training course to the oil company
and maintenance staff and then they would in turn train the other people who were to be involved in
the equipment.

Base Opening.
So by in 1991 the programme was in full swing and in November 1991 the Number 1 Base inTokyo Bay at Kyokuto Petroleum Industries Refinery at Ichihara was opened and the Major Oil
Spill Response Program came to life. This was followed by:
Number 2 Base in Seto Inlan Sea at Japan Energy Corp at Mizushima in September 1992 Number 3
Base in Ise Bay at the Cosmo Oil Refinery in Yokkaichi in March 1993 along with Number 7 Basein Singapore at Singapore Oil Spill Response base in Jurong then in September of 1993 Number 4
Base in the Sea of Japan at the Showa Shell facilities in Niigata followed by Number 8 Base in
Saudi Arabia at Arabian Oil Company facilities (now KJO) in Ras Al Khafji and Number 9 Base in
Malaysia at Nippon Express warehouse in Port Klang both in March of 1994, then Number 5 Basein Hokkaido at the Nippon Oil Refinery in Muroran in October of the same year with Number 6
Base in Okinawa at the Idemitsu Kosan facilities in Henza and Number 10 Base on UAE at ADOC
facilities in Mussaffa, Abu Dhabi opening in March of 1995 and finally Number 11 Base inIndonesia at Nippon Express warehouse in Jakarta in March of 1996. This period 1991 to 1996 wasa very busy time for Petroleum Association of Japan because not only were they building the bases
and relationships they were also adding to the stockpile already established.
Each opening ceremony was different and was a great occasion with the stockpile being blessed bya Shinto ceremony in Japan in the traditional way. At the overseas bases the occasion was also highprofile with Ambassadors and dignitaries from the neighbouring countries being represented alongwith the senior staff of Petroleum Association of Japan and METI also being present.

Lending of Equipment
As soon as the bases were open they were ready to lend out the equipment and it was not very long
before the equipment was being borrowed for major oil spill incidents.
1995 Sea Prince - Korea
The first incident where the equipment was loaned was to the Sea Prince incident in Korea. This
vessel had gone aground in Yosu in Korea and Petroleum Association of Japan equipment wasshipped from Number 2 Base in Seto Inland Sea at Japan Energy Corp at Mizushima to Korea tohelp with the clean up. In this case the borrower was the UK P&I Club.
1996 Dong Yu – Japan
This cargo ship had run aground off the coats of Okushiri Island in Hokkaido and equipment fromNumber 5 Base in Hokkaido at the Nippon Oil Refinery in Muroran was sent to the scene.
1997 Nakhodka – JapanOn January 2nd this vessel broke in two and lead to the biggest oil spill related incident in Japan’s
history. The heavy oil from this ship polluted hundreds of kilometres of Japan’s coastline andcaused disruption to countless industries, wildlife and environment. Most of Petroleum Associationof Japan equipment from all of the bases was made available to the P&I Club, Local prefectures of
Ishikawa, Kyoto, Toyama and Niigata and also the electric power companies and national oil
storage companies. The effects of this spill were felt in all corners of Japan and the fact that thePetroleum Association of Japan equipment was available and being used was a great comfort to the
all concerned in this is incident. This was Japan’s “Exxon Valdez” and I will come back to thechanges this incident prompted later in my presentation.
1997 Evoikos – Singapore Straits
A collision in the Singapore straits lead to 30,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil being release into the sea
and Petroleum Association of Japan equipment from all 3 of the South East Asian bases wasmobilised and 2 of them were used in the clean up. The UK P&I Club arranged the borrowing of
the equipment which was used extensively
1998 Pontoon 300 – United Arab Emirates
This 4,000 ton barge of intermediate fuel oil foundered in the emirate of Ajman in the United ArabEmirates and spilled almost its entire cargo. Petroleum Association of Japan loaned the equipmentfrom its number10 Base on UAE at ADOC facilities in Mussaffa, Abu Dhabi.
2000 Natuna Sea – Singapore Straits
Another grounding in the Singapore Straits caused a significant spill of 7,000 tons of Nile Blend
crude oil and equipment from the base in Singapore was loaned to the ship owner and the London
Steam Ship P&I Club who were the vessels insurer.
2000 Al Jazya – United Arab Emirates
400 tons of heavy fuel oil was discharged from this vessel when it sank in UAE and Petroleum
Association of Japan equipment was loaned to ADMA-OPCO for the clean up.
2001 Zaynab – United Arab Emirates
Again in 2001, 600 tons of heavy fuel oil was spilled when the vessel Zaynab sank 26 miles west ofDubai. Petroleum Association of Japan loaned the equipment to ADNOC for this clean up.
Since the start of the Major Oil Spill Response Programme the equipment has been loaned some 21
times involving 6 different countries. The last lending of the equipment was in fact concluded inlate 2005 and was again in the United Arab Emirates. All of the organisation that have loaned theequipment have been thankful to Petroleum Association of Japan and METI for maintaining thisfacility and on most occasions Petroleum Association of Japan has received an official letter ofgratitude for making these resources available.

Issues arising from Nakhodka
The Nakhodka incident raised many issues for many people but Petroleum Association of Japan
looked at its own organisation and considered how it could improve with the valuable lessons it hadlearned from the spill. This spill was the first time many of the Petroleum Association of Japanmembers had ever been involved in an oil spill and certainly the first time to be involved in an
incident on the scale of Nakhodka. One thing that was confirmed was that the provision of theequipment was indeed a very good idea and that the equipment that had been provided did work but
there was not enough of it and the weather conditions at the time were such that larger offshore
system needed to be available in Japan to be able to recover the oil at sea before it reached theshoreline. The biggest lesson learned however was in the area of training and since 1997 Petroleum
Association of Japan has invested a lot of time and effort in training its members in all areas of oil
spill operations.

Petroleum Association of Japan Training Programme
Domestic Training
Firstly a training programme was established to train all the member staff in 3 levels, beginner,intermediate and expert. The operation of the equipment had to be fully understood so a series ofvideos of the equipment were commissioned detailing the setting up and running of the equipment.
These videos are an invaluable aid to a beginner who can see from the content of the videos how theequipment works and what it looks like once assembled and deployed. Courses were developed
which include both theory and practical elements in the classroom and hands on. Practical exercises
were run at all the base locations at regular intervals. In addition to this major offshore and beach
exercise were held 2 or 3 times a year to get all the members familiar with the larger pieces ofequipment. This training is given to both technicians and managers and pretty soon the results werebeing seen. A growing list of trained personnel is being maintained who could be called upon in theevent of another major incident. Joint exercises with Japan Coast Guard are also held several times
per year to simulate the co-operation needed when the real event happens and build relationships
and understanding between all the interested parties
Training Overseas
Petroleum Association of Japan sends its members staff on overseas training courses for IMO level
2 and 3 courses in Singapore to East Asia Response Limited and to Singapore Oil Spill Response
Centre where they can participate international standard training courses. Participation in thesecourses is encouraged to bring in different ideas and methodology to the industry in Japan. These
courses are very popular and the students all return to Japan with a wealth of new knowledge which
they hope they will never have to call upon.
Overseas Exercises
Since 1997 Petroleum Association of Japan has been committed to participation in overseas
exercises with industry partners in the countries where the equipment is located. These exercises
give Petroleum Association of Japan members staff, the opportunity to operate the vessels andequipment in realistic scenarios and work together with the staff of other organisations and othercultures. This programme has been very successful and the major exercise that they haveparticipated in are:
1997
1999
1999
2000
2002
2002
2006

Exercise in Sharjah with ADNOC and AOC
Exercise Ghazal in Abu Dhabi with ADNOC, ADOC OSRL, Shell, BP Mobil etc
Exercise at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia with Saudi Aramco, AOC
Exercise at Port Dickson, Malaysia with PIMMAG
Exercise at Labuan Malaysia with PIMMAG
Exercise at Abu Dhabi with ADNOC
Exercise at Labuan Malaysia with PIMMAG

Petroleum Association of Japan Major Oil Spill Response Programme Today
Petroleum Association of Japan’s Major Oil Spill Response Programme has come a long way from1990 to 2006. It has established itself as a major resource in the prevention of damage from majoroil spills and has been a reliable partner to many organisations in their hour of need. The
organisation has trained many hundreds of operators and managers in all aspects of oil spill
response and maintains a list of experienced personnel that can be called upon when needed. The
stockpiles of equipment have grown over the years and now have some of the most sophisticatedand effective equipment available in the world today with operators who know how to use it. Old
equipment is periodically replaced with new state of the art devices which are becoming ever more
efficient and easier to operate. International cooperation is tested with every exercise and training
conducted overseas and wholly successful. I have not mentioned all of the other activities that
Petroleum Association of Japan are involved in such as the hosting of the annual Oil Spill
Symposium which is in its eleventh year or the research and development plan which is involved in
the development of soft ware to help with identifying the changes in properties of spilt oil. Also
Petroleum Association of Japan has released a new version of diffusion/drift simulation program
which has been developed to improve forecasting for spills in the Japan, Sakhalin areas andextending the area of coverage now to Malacca & Singapore Straits and to Persian Gulf.
In conclusion I would say that when a major incident happens and nobody can tell where it will be
or be fully prepared to cope with it but Petroleum Association of Japan has taken steps in the last
decade and a half which have helped a great deal to alleviate the impacts of these spills not only inJapan but in many overseas locations too. International co operation between Governments,
Industry and Responders has been the key to its success and Petroleum Association of Japan thanks
all of you here today for your support. Since its foundation, the Major Oil Spill Response
Programme has monitored the development and risks of the threats posed globally and reacted tothese changes by revising and updating the way of working. Petroleum Association of Japan willcontinue this work in the future by adopting and updating appropriate strategies and systems to
respond to the changing world situation. Thank you.

A.M. Crawford