Oil Dispersants News

The IMO is urging Member States to contribute equipment to help UN-led efforts to prevent a possible catastrophic oil spill from the FSO Safer, an ageing and rapidly decaying floating storage offshore (FSO) unit moored 4.8 nautical miles off the Red Sea coast of Yemen.A converted super tanker, the FSO Safer contains an estimated 150,000 metric tonnes (approximately 1.1 million barrels) of crude oil, four times the amount spilled during the Exxon Valdez incident in 1989. It has been moored at Ras Isa since 1988 where it had been receiving…

On January 22, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Proposed Rule on dispersants. The Proposed Rule drastically changes the EPA’s approach to dispersants and could imperil proven and effective means of responding to marine oil disasters. The Proposed Rule seems to be written from the perspective that dispersants are dangerous and should not be used and seeks to establish new toxicity and other standards. This approach may have the practical effect of prohibiting the use of dispersants when needed.

Conservation groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard for authorizing toxic oil dispersants without ensuring that these chemicals would not harm endangered species or their habitats. The groups want the EPA to immediately study the effects of dispersants on endangered and threatened species in all U.S. waters, including threatened and endangered whales, sea turtles, salmon and seabirds in the Pacific and polar bears and walruses in the Arctic. “If chemical dispersants are going to be used after an oil spill, we have to know whether they’ll hurt or kill whales, sea turtles and other wildlife.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released peer reviewed results from the first round of its own independent toxicity testing on eight oil dispersants. EPA conducted testing to ensure that decisions about ongoing dispersant use in the Gulf of Mexico continue to be grounded in the best available science. EPA’s results indicated that none of the eight dispersants tested, including the product in use in the Gulf, displayed biologically significant endocrine disrupting activity. While the dispersant products alone – not mixed with oil - have roughly the same impact on aquatic life, JD-2000 and Corexit 9500 were generally less toxic to small fish and JD-2000 and SAF-RON GOLD were least toxic to mysid shrimp.

According to a May 26 report from Bloomberg, oil spilled from a tanker collision offshore Singapore fouled parts of a two-mile stretch of the city-state's coast. Officials have deployed oil dispersants, 15 boats, 120 personnel and 10,800 ft of containment booms. About 18,000 barrels of light crude oil spilled from the Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 after it collided with the St. Vincent's and The Grenadines-registered bulk carrier MV Waily in the Singapore Strait. (Source: Bloomberg)

Ohmsett, the National Oil Spill Response Test Facility will hold its first ever hands-on Dispersant Training Course to be held April 29 and 30, 2009. This two-day training session will take place at the Ohmsett facility, located in Leonardo, NJ. The training will emphasize practical experience in full-scale dispersant applications using the Ohmsett dispersant testing protocol and dispersant effectiveness monitoring methods using Special Monitoring of Applied Response Technologies (SMART) visual and fluorometry methods. Instruction is provided by leading dispersant experts from SL Ross Environmental Ltd. The goals of this training are to provide responders…

On Nov. 4, The Marine Department co-ordinated an annual joint exercise in the waters off Tsing Lung Garden, Tuen Mun, to test the response and efficiency of government departments and oil companies in handling oil spills. A Marine Department spokesman said the anti-oil pollution exercise, code-named "Oilex 2008", enabled personnel of related organizations to have key functions in dealing with oil spills and individual and team knowledge, skills and capabilities examined. As well as the Marine Department, five government departments, the Civil Aid Service, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Government Flying Service, Police Force…

FBM Babcock Marine, in partnership with licensed shipyard partner Astilleros De Murueta, was awarded a contract for the construction of three 45 m (150 ft.) patrol vessels for the Coast Guard Command of the Armada de Ecuador (Ecuador Navy). The Armada de Ecuador announced that Astilleros De Murueta, using the FBM Babcock Marine Vigilante patrol vessel, was selected as their choice for their new fleet of patrol vessels. The Vigilante patrol vessel is a registered design from the FBM Protector class, designed as a reliable, capable but cost-effective patrol vessel.

The Italian sub-sea construction service provider will begin offloading oil from the sunken tanker Solar 1 on March 14. Although Sonsub International expects the offloading to be an easy job, they assured that they have contingency plans in the event of another oil spill. Officials expect the offloading operations to last for about 25 days, but not shorter than 20 days, subject however to the amount of bunker fuel remaining in the ten cargo holds of Solar 1. It is estimated that by April 14, they will already be demobilizing their equipment. It's not that we want to stay any longer, we just want to ensure that each tank is empty of oil, he added. Sonsub will be bringing in Allied Shield for the operation, which will be conducted round the clock.

The Coast Guard and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources yesterday were racing against time to prevent a major environmental disaster as oil seeped from a tanker that sank between Guimaras and Negros Islands Friday. The spill is threatening marine life and the tourism industry of Western Visayas, officials said, and moving closer to Negros Occidental. The Coast Guard in Bacolod had a Marine Environment Protection Unit, assisted by trained personnel of oil firms in the province, on standby to set up spill booms in case the oil slick approaches Negros, to help prevent its entry into the area, Chief Petty Officer Cornelio Barbasa said.