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Large Oil Spill News

23 Jan 2024

Predictability, or “Call your Designated Responder Early and Often”

Copyright Björn Wylezich/AdobeStock

Predictability is the aim of every human, company, or society.Humanity simply strives to increase its level of predictability whether as a person, or as a group of people. When humans attain a certain level of predictability, their hope for the future goes up and their level of anxiety goes down.Oddly, conservatives and progressives both strive for predictability, they just do it in different ways. A conservative will say: If nothing changes, then my predictability for the future will go up.

15 Nov 2021

Amplify Energy Pulls Full-year Outlook after California Offshore Oil Spill

Crude oil is shown in the Pacific Ocean offshore of Orange County, Oct. 3, 2021. U.S. Coast Guard photo (Cropped)

Amplify Energy Corp withdrew its full-year forecast on Monday, saying that a large oil spill from one of its subsea pipelines in southern California last month forced it to shut its operations in the region.In mid-October, the U.S. Coast Guard said about 588 barrels (25,000 gallons) of crude oil was spilt, about a fifth as much as it initially estimated, from a pipeline connected to an offshore facility owned by Amplify's unit.The oil and gas producer said on Monday that it was under multiple investigations by state and federal authorities over the incident…

04 Oct 2021

'Catastrophic' California Offshore Oil Spill Kills Fish, Damages Wetlands

Crude oil is shown in the Pacific Ocean offshore of Orange County, Oct. 3, 2021.

A unified command has been established to respond to and clean up the oil spill off the California coast.

Official U.S. Coast Guard photo.

A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, prompting local officials to call it an environmental catastrophe.The U.S. Coast Guard, heading a clean-up response involving federal, state, and city agencies, said on Sunday there was an around-the-clock investigation into how the spill occurred.An estimated 126,000 gallons, or 3,000 barrels, had spread into an oil slick covering about 13 square miles of the Pacific Ocean since it was first reported on Saturday morning…

03 Sep 2020

PDVSA, Eni Looking at Options to Offload Oil from Idle FSO

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA and Eni are looking at options to safely offload crude from a floating storage facility on Venezuela's eastern coast that has remained idle for over a year due to U.S. sanctions, according to sources close to the discussions and a statement from the Italian oil company.The companies suspended output at their joint venture Petrosucre shortly after Washington imposed sanctions on PDVSA in January 2019, depriving the partnership of its main crude buyer, PDVSA's U.S.-based refining subsidiary Citgo Petroleum.About 1.3 million barrels of Corocoro crude stored at the FSO (floating storage and offloading facility) have remained stuck in the vessel…

09 Apr 2019

MSC Boxship Spills Oil at Port of Sines

Work is ongoing to contain a “large oil spill” that contaminated waters in Port of Sines, Portugal late on Thursday night during a routine refuelling operation.MSC Sandra Panama-flagged container ship, operated by Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has reported leakage of marine fuel oil while bunkering in the Sines harbour late on 4 April."The authorities were immediately informed and action was swiftly taken to minimize the environmental impact of the incident. We understand that removal of the oil from the water has progressed at a good pace," said a press note from MSC.MSC will continue to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities and provide full support and expertise to assist with any enquiries, it said.

05 Jan 2017

Update on Collision of Container Vessels Wan Hai 301, APL Denver

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) continues to coordinate the containment and clean-up efforts of the oil spillage in Singapore’s waters following the collision of container vessels Wan Hai 301 and APL Denver. As of 5 January 2016, a total of 17 vessels and 222 personnel have been deployed. Progress of the clean-up is being made along the western coastlines of Pulau Ubin (OBS Jetty) and Nenas Channel. Some patches of oil were spotted off CAFHI Jetty and also along the shorelines of Pasir Ris Beach, Changi Point Ferry Terminal, Changi Sailing Club and Changi Beach in the early hours of the morning. Contractors were deployed to clean up the affected shorelines.

04 Jan 2017

Boxship Collision Causes Oil Spill on Singapore-Malaysia border

Nearly 300 tonnes of oil spilled into the narrow strait separating Singapore and Malaysia after a collision between two container vessels, the Singapore Marine Port Authority (MPA) said on Wednesday. There were no reports of injuries and 12 anti-pollution craft had been sent to clean up the mid-sized oil spill, the MPA said in a statement. "Traffic in the East Johor Straits and Singapore's port operations remains unaffected", it said, adding that the spill had been contained off the western side of Singapore's Pulau Ubin island. The spill was caused by damage to the fuel tank of the container vessel APL Denver after a collsion with the WAN HAI 301 off Pasir Gudang Port in Johor, Malaysia late on Tuesday.

03 Mar 2016

Rosneft Reports Large Oil Spill on Sakhalin Island

Russian oil producer Rosneft said on Thursday that around 15 tonnes (110 barrels) of oil spilled off from an idled pipeline on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, while local ecologists say the scale of disaster is far larger. Rosneft said the spill occurred on Wednesday at the Ekhabi oilfield in northern Sakhalin. The company decided to burn the spilled oil to "minimise ecological damage". Dmitry Lisitsin, an activist at a local ecological watchdog in Sakhalin, estimated the size of the spill at about 300 tonnes. "They started to burn the spilled oil, people see massive plumes of black smoke," he said by phone from Sakhalin. "This is a large spill, and the problem is of a systemic nature," said Vladimir Chuprov from Greenpeace.

01 Jul 2015

Shell Steps Closer to Arctic Drilling

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the nonlethal, incidental, and unintentional take of small numbers of polar bears and Pacific walrus that result from Shell’s exploratory drilling activities in the Chukchi Sea. The agency gave authorization despite finding information gaps regarding walrus and polar bear behavior in offshore environments, the immediate and long-term responses of these animals to drilling operations, and the subsistence hunting activities of several Native villages. With this authorization, Shell only requires one more drilling permit from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to begin drilling in the Chukchi Sea in less than a month.

15 Apr 2013

By the Numbers: Oil Spill Response

An explosion aboard the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010 set off a chain of events that led to its sinking and subsequent oil spill. That same day, the DHS Secretary declared the Deepwater Horizon incident a Spill of National Significance (SONS). Eventually, at least 47 offers of International assistance were received. Response to the incident required extraordinary coordination, a coordinated effort to secure the well, contain and clean up the oil among all stakeholders.

07 Jan 2013

Major Oil Spill Recovery Reception Facilities: New EMSA Report

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) publishes its report on facilities for discharge of oil collected following a major oil spill in the sea. This report is the main deliverable of the project "Study on discharge facilities for oil recovered at sea – Geographical distribution, technical challenges, solutions and alternatives related to the discharge of oil recovered at sea by specialised vessels, following a large oil spill in Europe" (EMSA OP/07/2011), commissioned by EMSA. The objective of the project, as determined in its tender specifications, was to provide EMSA with a study on available facilities to receive oil recovered at sea by the Agency's specialised response vessels following a large oil spill…

21 Sep 2010

This Day in Coast Guard History – September 21

1791- Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton authorized an allowance of 9 cents for every ration that Revenue officers did not draw. 1922- Congress authorized officers of the Customs and of the Coast Guard to board and examine vessels, reaffirming authority to seize and secure vessels for security of the revenue under act of March 2, 1799. 1938-A hurricane hit the northeast coast, wreaking havoc among the lighthouses and the light keepers there. First assistant keeper Walter B. Eberle of the Whale Rock light was killed when his lighthouse was swept into the sea. The wife of head keeper Arthur A. Small was killed when she was swept away from the Palmer Island Light Station.

20 Sep 2009

This Day in Coast Guard History – Sept. 21

1791- Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton authorized an allowance of 9 cents for every ration that Revenue officers did not draw. 1922- Congress authorized officers of the Customs and of the Coast Guard to board and examine vessels, reaffirming authority to seize and secure vessels for security of the revenue under act of March 2, 1799. 1938-A hurricane hit the northeast coast, wreaking havoc among the lighthouses and the light keepers there. First assistant keeper Walter B. Eberle of the Whale Rock light was killed when his lighthouse was swept into the sea. The wife of head keeper Arthur A. Small was killed when she was swept away from the Palmer Island Light Station.

30 Jan 2009

Underprepared for Maritime Accidents

NOAA photo: Ice and open water in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska.

The UNH/NOAA said that the existing infrastructure for responding to maritime accidents in the Arctic is limited and more needs to be done to enhance emergency response capacity as Arctic sea ice declines and ship traffic in the region increases, according to new report released on Jan. 29 by the University of New Hampshire and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report details findings from a panel of experts and decision-makers from Arctic nation governments…

12 Dec 2007

Panama Canal Practices Emergency Oil Spill Techniques

Oil spill emergency response teams gathered at the Panama Canal to attend the sixth International Mobilization, Preparedness & Response Exercise, held Dec. 4-6. During the event, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) worked with various non-profits to test its emergency response system in affiliation with local and international organizations. MOBEX’s goal is to evaluate the Canal’s response mechanism for large oil spill accidents and measure the ACP’s ability to alleviate the environmental effects and protect those in the surrounding area.

25 Jan 2005

EMSA Seeks Stand-by Spill Recover Vessels

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) issued a Prior Information Notice stating that it is seeking to contract with ship owners for service contracts making the ships available to stand-by for potential use as oil spill recovery vessels. The four priority areas where such service is sought are the Baltic Sea, the Western Approaches to the Channel, the Atlantic Coast, and the Mediterranean Sea. In the event of a large oil spill and following a request by a member state, the stand-by vessel would cease its commercial activities and commence oil spill response. (HK Law)