Oil Spill Experts News

Clean-up work continued on Wednesday near the Chinese port city of Qingdao, a day after a yet-to-be determined quantity of oil spilled into the Yellow Sea after a tanker carrying around a million barrels of bitumen mix collided with a bulk vessel in thick fog.“There are oil spill experts on the scene that have started clean-up operations,” said a spokesman for Goodwood Ship Management, manager of the Liberia-flagged tanker, A Symphony, that was at anchor when involved in the collision with bulk shipping vessel Sea Justice.China’s Shandong Maritime Safety Administration on Tuesday instructed ships to stay at least 10 nautical miles from A Symphony, but didn’t provide details on how much oil has leaked.Hong Kong-based fuel trading company Run Cheng International Resource (HK) Co has said it

The ongoing oil pollution incident from the grounded 203,000 DWT bulk carrier MV Wakashio is threatening an ecological catastrophe around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, endangering corals, fish and other marine life already under threat from climate change (IPCC 2018).In addition, it risks bringing devastating consequences for the economy, food security, health and tourism industry. Tourism in Mauritius - a popular destination for its pristine beaches - reportedly contributed about $1.6 billion to its economy during the last year…

Mauritian volunteers fished dead eels from oily waters on Tuesday as they tried to clean up damage to the Indian Ocean island's most pristine beaches after a Japanese bulk carrier leaked an estimated 1,000 tonnes of oil.The ship, MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, struck a coral reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25 and began leaking oil last week, raising fears of a major ecological crisis.Activists told Reuters that dead eels were floating in the water and dead starfish were marked by the sticky black liquid.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has joined leading oil spill experts and stakeholders to discuss future issues concerning oil spill preparedness, response and restoration – at the Interspill 2018 conference and exhibition in London (13-15 March). Speaking at the opening session, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said that “many years of collaborative work between governments and industry, at IMO, have helped reduce dramatically the number of oil spills and the amount of oil spilt from ships”. Lim outlined how individual incidents had been catalysts for significant improvements, through IMO regulations, in areas such as ship design, operation, disposal of engine room wastes, as well as the framework for compensating the victims of pollution incidents.

SNEPCo confirmed the oil leak from the Bonga facility off the coast of Nigeria has largely dispersed. The news comes five days after less than 40,000 barrels of oil leaked during a routine operation to transfer of oil from Bonga’s floating production, storage and offtake (FPSO) vessel to an oil tanker. Since the leak, teams from SNEPCo have worked around the clock with international oil spill experts, using a combination of dispersants and booms to tackle the leaked oil. SNEPCo will continue to monitor the area, including using radar satellite, and take appropriate steps to disperse any further persistent oil sheens. SNEPCo's robust response and the natural weathering process, has helped bring a swift end to this incident.

April 27, 2004, marks one year since the Bouchard tank barge B. No. 120 ran aground and spilled approximately 55,000 gallons of Number 6 fuel oil in Buzzards Bay. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office (MSO) Providence has been working with several of its partners the past year to clean up the spill and to implement changes that can help prevent a similar disaster in the future. To date, more than $40 million has been spent on cleanup efforts. 99.8 percent of the shoreline areas that were oiled as a result of the spill have been cleaned, inspected by a combined team representing federal, state, local, and responsible party representatives, and found to meet the cleanup criteria under Massachusetts state law.

Leading world experts in oil spill response have agreed a series of recommendations to deal with future spills of high density oil during the International Maritime Organization’s Third R&D Forum on High Density Oil Spill Response, held from 11-13 March in Brest, France, following the generous offer of the French Government to host the Forum. Large quantities of high density oil are carried by ships either as cargo or as fuel (bunkers). This oil’s characteristics, including high viscosity and tendency to sink, present particular challenges for clean-up operations in the event of an accidental spill at sea. The recommendations adopted…

According to CBC, a group of Arctic oil spill experts who recently met in Halifax say they plan to create artificial spills in northern waters to learn how to clean them up. Six oil companies are backing a series of international experiments aimed at improving technology for cleaning up spills. Norwegian scientist Evor Sinksus says more oil production and shipping traffic in the Arctic has During the next three years, the scientists plan to create oil spills in Canada's Beaufort Sea and also in Arctic waters off of Norway. Source: CBC