INTERNATIONAL OIL SPILL SYMPOSIUM
Tokyo, Japan 21-22 February 2008

PAJ Oil Spill
Symposium 2008
Presented by Col. Suleiman Al-Busaidy
Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs
Sultanate of OmanNATIONAL DECREES AND INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
Oman has two types of legal instrument:
Royal Decrees (RD) and Ministerial Decrees (MD•Royal Decree provides general provisions relating to aparticular area in need of statutory control•Ministerial Decrees provide more detailed regulations
The National Environmental Law under MECA is RD
114/2001 The Law on Conservation of the Environment andPrevention of Pollution giving MECA jurisdiction over theterritorial sea and powers of the High Seas subject to RD
25/81 which ratified the International Convention forPrevention of Pollution from Ships: MARPOL 73/78.

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SOME RELEVANT NATIONAL LEGISLATION:
Reference

Legislation Title

RD 25/81

International Convention for Prevention of Pollution From Ships: MARPOL
73/78

RD 92/84

Accession of Oman to the International Convention on Intervention on theHigh Seas in Case of Oil Pollution (1969 and its Protocol of 1973)

RD 93/84

Authorization of Accession of Oman to the International Convention of 1969 on
Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and its Protocols of 1974

RD 92/89

Ratification of the Protocol concerning Marine Pollution resulting from theExploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf (23.02.89)

RD 90/91

Accession to Protocol for the Protection of Marine Environment against
Pollution from Land-based Sources

RD 77/96

Accession of the Sultanate to the Agreement to Implementing Section Eleven ofthe UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,1982

RD 114/2001

The Law on Conservation of the Environment and Prevention of Pollution(replaces RD 10/82)

Ratified Conventions
24 April 1985

Ratified International Convention relating to Intervention of the High Seas inCases of Oil Pollution Casualties

24 April 1985

International Convention on Civil Liability for Pollution Damage

RD 92/89 RATIFICATION OF KUWAIT E&P PROTOCOLOFFSHORE ACTIVITIES: only 1 offshore operator:

Gas and associatedcondensate production atWest Bukha to be connected
to existing Bukha platform
via a sub-sea pipeline. Thesewells are located in theArabian Gulf off the West
coast of Musandam.

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OMAN: NATIONAL OIL SPILLCONTINGENCY PLAN (NOSCP)
Tier 0: An oil spill with potential impact
requiring no action. Managed by polluter.

Being updated

SULTANATE
OFOMANMINISTRY OFENVIRONMENT AND
CLIMATE AFFAIRS

Tier 1: An oil spill less than 100 tonnes dealt
with using local resources.
Tier 2: A medium-level oil spill will needNOSCP assistance. The amount of oil spilled
typically would be in the range 100 to 500tonnes.
Tier 3: An oil spill > 500 tonnes beyond local
response capability requiring the immediate
assistance of out-of-country resources.

NATIONAL OIL SPILLCONTINGENCY PLAN

The Sultanate of Oman possesses over 1,700
km of spectacular and unique coastline.
Beaches are essential to the economy andheritage of Oman. In addition, there are
rapid developments occurring along its
coastline, including the construction oflarge ports with industries (Sohar, Salalah,Duqm), large desalination plants (Barka,Sohar), hotels, fisheries harbours andaquaculture projects. The sensitive habitatsa n d e c o n o mi c a l l y v a l u a b l e c o a s t a linfrastructures are vulnerable to oil spills.
SEA WA TER INTAK E AND RETURNSYSTEM (SWIRS) AT SOHAR
INDUSTRIAL AREA: OPEN CANAL FOR
2 0 I N D US T R I A L P R OJ EC T S , WIT H
REQUIREMENT FOR OVER 14 million
m3 /day SEAWATER COOLING/DESALHigh Risk from Oil spills

3PORT DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUESHABITAT LOSS, EROSION, BALLAST WATER (INVASIVE
SPECIES), ANTIFOULING PAINT, OIL & OTHER SPILLS,SHIPPING ACCIDENTS

MAJOR TOURISM, RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS:RAS SAWADI

Blue CityYITISalam Resort & Spa – Yiti

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The coastline of Oman has key environmental assets of internationalsignificance, especially along the Arabian Sea coasts. Theseinclude:
1. the turtle nesting beaches of Ras Al Hadd and Masirah Island,
2. migratory bird feeding and nesting grounds of Barr Al Hikman,
3. suspected resident, breeding populations of the humpback whale,
4. a unique, monospecific coral reef off Barr Al Hikman,
5. wetlands including mangroves.

Map of Ras Al Hadd showing the close proximity of tanker
lanes ~ 30 km from the important Green turtle nesting areas.

5Tar balls originated from passing tanker traffic, along
the Batinah coast (prior to 2002)

MARINE POLLUTION MONITORING PROGRAMMEBEACH TAR SURVEY
Randomly select three 1 metre wide strips using a tape measure andmarker poles. From the low water mark collect all tar balls withforceps into a small labelled plastic bag, remove sand, weigh in lab(g/m beach front)

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MONITORING OF TAR BALL DENSITIESTar (g/m2) 1980 - 2004
500
Tar (g/m2)

400
300
Tar (g/m2)

200
100
0
Year-1980

Year-1997

Year-2002

Year-2004

Year

It appears that levels of tar balls have declined from high levels in
1980-1997 (graph, above) and levels in 2006/2007 were almost zerob u t l a rg e ta r b a l l s ma y s ti l l b e f o u n d a t Mu s a n d a m.

Reference

Legislation Title

RD 25/81

International Convention for Prevention of Pollution From Ships:
MARPOL 73/78. Accession to Annexes I – V 13-06-84

Main Elements of MARPOL 73/78 Management Plan:•Provision of adequate reception facilities forAnnexes I-V wastes•Discharge of wastes into sea strictly limited, especially inSpecial Area of the Arabian Sea coasts•Compliance, monitoring and enforcement

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IMO Special Area Status for Arabian Sea coast of Oman

Ratified at MEPC/52 October 2004. Total enforcement of the Special
Area after agreements reached on Reception Facilities.

PROPOSED REFUGE SITES IN OMAN

To date 6 Refuge Sites
have been proposed inless sensitive areas toallow possible ship-toship transfers orother measures

8MARPOL 73/78 Regulation 10, Annex I (Special Areas)•Ships greater than 400 tons gross tonnage prohibited fromdischarging oil or oil mixtures in Special Area.
•This does not apply to clean or segregated ballast.
•Processed bilge water from machinery spaces may be discharged,
but only if effluent concentration < 15ppm oil content, vessel
underway, IMO-approved oil filtering equipment must be in use, etc.
•For ships less than 400 tons gross tonnage discharge of oil or oily
mixtures is also prohibited unless effluent < 15ppm.
•The Sultanate of Oman government is obliged to investigate any
visible traces of oil in the vicinity of a ship or it's wake.
•Reception Facilities are required; Port Waste/Reception Facilities
are under tendering process. Estimated operational by end 2008.

EXISITING RECEPTION FACILITIES‘East Coast Regional Reception Facility’ (ECOREF)
This Facility operated since 1990 in Fujairah can deal withsludge and oily water (slops) on 20,000 m2 site:

Holding tanks and the skip park

Water and oil separation plant

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MRMEWR (now MECA) UNDER MD Dec 2005
called for:•All Companies in the Oil/Gas Industry to have minimum
access to Tier 2 capability for spills•the establishment of new Tier 2 Response-capable
Emergency Response Centres (Environmental ActionCentres). These will be private-sector supported Centres
providing assistance to Oil Companies, Ports, Power &Desalination Plants and other vulnerable sites in the eventof an oil spill. After Tendering two Service Provider
Companies Clean Globe and PESCO were selected toprovide these facilities.

Overall principle for collection and treatment of port waste– First treatment facility for oily waste to be built in Salalah– Waste reception from ships to reception tanks (busy ports), byroad tankers, containers, waste collection bins
– Waste to be transported from other ports to Salalah or otherlicensed treatment and disposal facilities– Ports to be served: Salalah, Sohar, Mina Sultan Qaboos, Mina
Al Fahal, Qalhat (Sur), Duqm
– System based on the MARPOL 73/78 Convention Requirements– Same concept can be implemented in Sohar etc. according toincrease in volumes– Service available 24 h/365 days/year10Reception of waste from ships• Waste is collected when ships are berthed• Collection from anchored ships optional (notincluded in the proposed fee)

Collection fromanchored ships
Reception Facility
Collection fromberthed ships

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (HABs)•Top view shows a RED
TIDE often a Harmful
Algal Bloom•Bottom view shows thedinoflagellate Karenia
selliformis implicated inthe fish, green turtle anddolphin mass mortalities
alongArabian
Seacoasts of Oman inNovember 2001 (fromBallast water??)

11Shipping:• moves > 90% of World’s commodities,• transfers ~3 billion tonnes of ballast / year,• carries > 7,000 species of microbes, plants andanimals at any one time, and• is getting bigger, faster and more frequent!

Ballast Water Transfers
SOURCE PORT:•Virtually ALL marine species have aUNLOADINGCARGO

planktonic stage in their life-cycle.

TAKE ON BW•Therefore, can potentially be taken on inballast, discharged when loading (Sohar)DESTINATION PORT:LOADING CARGODISCHARGE BW

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• ROPME Sea Area (especially ArabianGulf) has suffered harmful algae blooms
in recent years.(Kuwait, 1999, 2001).
• Some of these species may have been
introduced in ballast water.
• Is a closed system with high ecologicalvalues and sensitivity.
• Is therefore particularly vulnerable tobio-invasion.
• Oman coastal waters also vulnerable
BUT MORE OPEN THAN GULF

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The New IMO BW Convention• International Convention for the Controland Management of Ships’ Ballast Water &Sediments, 2004 (IMO; MEPC51/2)• Ballast water risk assessments (each site).
• Port baseline surveys (each site).
• Training in IMO BW guidelines.
• Training and systems for compliancemonitoring & enforcement.
• Adoption as significant as MARPOL14