Oil Spill News

Two oil products tankers had collided off Singapore coast but the impact of the accident was not immediately clear, industry sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The tankers were identified as Crystal Sunrise, chartered by Japanese liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) firm Gyxis, and Astro Saturn chartered by European trading house Trafigura. "We can confirm that the Astro Saturn is on TC (time charter) to Trafigura and is carrying fuel oil," said it's spokeswoman without elaborating further.

A U.S. Coast Guard marine science technician and an environmental quality analyst for Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality surveyed the Straits of Mackinac onboard a vessel Thursday. The responders did not identify any mineral oil sheens, signs of pollution, or adverse impacts to the environment or wildlife. Earlier this week, hundreds of gallons of mineral oil has been released from a leaking underwater utility line in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. Members of the U.S.

A coal ship that dropped anchor off the coast of the Indonesian port city of Balikpapan on Borneo island was likely to blame for an oil spill, after dragging a pipeline more than 100 metres and causing it to crack, an energy ministry official said. Indonesia declared a state of emergency this week after the spill and fire killed five fishermen. The environment ministry said the oil covered an area of nearly 13,000 hectares and had polluted 60 km of coastal ecosystems, including mangrove wetlands and marine mammal habitats. "We suspect the pipe was dragged by the ship that caught fire," Oil and Gas Director General Djoko Siswanto told reporters on Thursday.

The recently launched Oil Spill Radar by Consilium Marine & Safety was tested together with the Norwegian Coastal Administration and the Norwegian Clean Seas Association For Operative Companies (NOFO). Within months since the successful tests last July, the Consilium Oil Spill Detection Radar is celebrating a breakthrough by responding to an increasing demand. The Oil Spill Detection Radar is being used on the Finnish Icebreaker Kontio, commissioned as stand-by Vessel for EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency)…

Earlier this week, BSEE's Oil Spill Response Division (OSRD) conducted an onsite review of oil spill response equipment listed in DCOR, LLC's Oil Spill Response Plan for platforms offshore Long Beach, Calif. The visit included verification of equipment and response vessels maintained by Marine Spill Response Corporation. OSRD verifies the equipment listed in each operator's plan on a rotating basis in addition to reviewing maintenance and training records. BSEE oversees oil spill planning and preparedness for U.S.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced that it is soliciting proposals for oil spill response research projects and will be investing up to $7 million to support these projects in 2014. In a Broad Agency Announcement released on the federal governments business opportunities website, FedBizOpps.gov, the bureau called for white papers focusing specifically on one of 10 topic areas for proposed research covering oil spill response operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

The Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the House Committee on Science and Technology conducted a hearing on Research and Technology Needs for Oil Recovery and Effective Cleanup of Oil Spills. Committee Chair Bart Gordon (D-) made an opening statement. Subcommittee Chair Brian Baird (D-) made an opening statement. Mr. Douglas Helton, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), testified that NOAA is providing scientific information regarding oil spill trajectory and conducting natural resource damage assessments. Captain Anthony Lloyd, US Coast Guard, testified concerning the National Incident Command’s efforts to respond to the ongoing oil spill. Ms.

The Arctic has large oil and gas resources and operations in this sensitive and harsh area will require efficient oil-spill preparedness solutions. “The acquisition of Norwegian Petro Services (NPS) in Norway and its recognised expertise will play an important role in our activities in this field,” says Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, DNV’s COO of the Norway, Russia and Finland division. Oil and gas operations in the Arctic introduce several new risk elements; the distances are greater, the climate is cold, it is dark for a lot of the year and there may be no infrastructure. “Both the industry and society focus heavily on reducing the environmental effects of operations in Arctic areas such as the Barents Sea.

Oregon 10th grader Sahil Veeramoney received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10 President’s Environmental Youth Award for his development of a novel and efficient method to clean up marine oil spills. Veeramoney, a student at Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, Oregon, developed a method to remediate marine oil spills after studying the environmental impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and subsequent oil spills.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) formally announced its search for qualified leaders to fill two senior positions to further offshore oil and gas regulatory reform efforts. The first position is the Director of the Offshore Training Center, and the second is the Division Chief for the Oil Spill Response Division. Both positions are being advertised nationally to recruit the most qualified professionals to establish new organizations in the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), one of two new bureaus being created as part of the reorganization of the former Minerals Management Service. BSEE is the new bureau responsible for regulation and enforcement of offshore activities.

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.

International experts have been sharing experiences, new technologies and scientific advancements relating to oil spill response at the International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) in Long Beach, United States (15-18 May). The theme of the conference is “prevent, prepare, respond and restore”, which fully aligns with  International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s regulatory work to prevent oil spills from occurring and also its work to support countries to be prepared to respond to such incidents.

The Interagency Alternative Technology Assessment Program workgroup, newly established by the National Incident Commander for the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, announced a new effort to collect and review oil spill response solutions from scientists and vendors. The Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center, in collaboration with interagency partners, issued a Broad Agency Announcement on www.FedBizOpps.gov, calling for the submission of white papers that cover: oil sensing improvements to response and detection; oil wellhead control and submerged oil response; traditional oil spill response technologies; alternative oil spill response technologies; and oil spill damage assessment and restoration.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has announced that it is investing up to $600,000 for targeted oil spill response research in drift ice conditions. In a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) released on the federal government's business opportunities website,  the bureau called for white papers on new mechanical technologies for cleaning up oil spills in drift ice conditions that could be found in an Arctic environment. BSEE will select up to three designs for prototype development and testing at Ohmsett…

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) says it invites submissions on its draft updated New Zealand Marine Oil Spill Response Strategy 2014 (the draft Strategy). The draft Strategy, (available at http://bit.ly/1pe6p46) is based on the current version but substantially updated to include lessons learned nationally and internationally in recent years and follows discussion with regional councils, the community and iwi, and industry at a series of public held earlier this year. The safety agency…

The U.S. Coast Guard has finalized an interim rule that requires vessels carrying oil in bulk as cargo to carry discharge removal equipment, install spill prevention coamings and install emergency towing arrangements.   The rule, due to take effect May 9, 2016, also requires that these vessels to have prearranged capability to calculate damage stability in the event of a casualty.   The Coast Guard said this rulemaking aims to help reduce the risk of oil spills, improving vessel oil spill response capabilities and minimizing the impact of oil spills on the environment.

PCCI, Inc. conducted oil spill management training for 18 senior executives participating in the Special American Business Internship Training Program (SABIT) on November 1, 2002. The participating executives came from oil, pipeline, and ecological companies located in Russia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. This is the third time that PCCI has provided training for the SABIT program of the U.S. Department of Commerce. PCCI provided the visiting delegation with comprehensive training in the areas of spill preparedness, evaluating and procuring oil spill response equipment, and oil spill response readiness.

On December 18, the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries & Coast Guard of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation conducted a hearing on Oil Spills from Non-Tank Vessels. Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) noted the success of OPA 90 in reducing spills from tank vessels, but noted that the incidence of spills from non-tank vessels have not declined as much, asking whether standards for these vessels should be strengthened. Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant, US Coast Guard, discussed efforts to make fuel tanks on vessels less susceptible to damage and proposed increasing the limit of liability for damages caused by oil spills from non-tank vessels. Ms.

Personnel from the multi-agency unified command based here continue to assess, investigate and clean up six major and three medium oil spills caused by damage to facilities after Hurricane Katrina struck Southeast Louisiana. Nearly 750 people from dozens of federal,state and local agencies, as well as industry partners and contract workers, are involved in the cleanup operation. Personnel are also investigating numerous minor spills in the area. The following numbers reflect the latest reports on the nine major and medium oil spills. Total numbers for amounts of oil spilled, evaporated, dispersed and recovered are estimates and are subject to change; estimates for recovered volume at some sites may represent an oil/water mix.

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.

The States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force presented its first Legacy Awards for Oil Spill Prevention at its 1999 Annual Meeting, in Valdez, Alaska. The winners included: ARCO Marine, Inc.; Alyeska SERVS; Captain Herbert S. "Chip" Sharpe, USCG; The Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council; The High Velocity Current Study Project Team, sponsored by the California State Lands Commission, David Pearce and John Kloman, recipients; Stan Stephens of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council; David Usher of the Marine Pollution Control Association. The new Legacy Awards Program advances the Task Force's spill prevention objective "to develop and support implementation of model spill prevention programs…

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has state that she intends to introduce legislation to reduce the risk of an oil spill in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca by, among other things, doubling the tug escort requirement for all oil tankers over 5,000 gross tons operating in Puget Sound and Prince William Sound; requiring a permanent rescue tug at Neah Bay; and providing financial support for the Washington State Oil Spill Advisory Council. Source: HK Law

Shell has manipulated oil spill investigations in Nigeria, with the company’s claims on oil pollution in the region deeply suspect and often untrue, claim Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD). Hundreds of oil spills occur in Nigeria every year, causing significant harm to the environment, destroying livelihoods and placing human health at serious risk. New analysis from an independent expert found that so-called official investigation reports into the cause of oil spills in the Niger Delta can be “very subjective…