WSSD Report FINAL! - OGP

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THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY FROM RIO TO JOHANNESBURG AND BEYOND Oil spill prevention and response A friend indeed Chevron Texaco and the Sea Shepherd Institute of Brazil have joined forces in ‘Friends of the Sea’. This is a partnered initiative that trains volunteers along the Brazilian coast to become qualified marine wildlife rescuers in the event of an oil spill. Designed by Sea Shepherd, the programme encompassed five training sessions to provide marine wildlife rescue skills for more than 300 volunteers from 10 coastal locations. These locations were selected because of their significant ecological resources that could be vulnerable to oil spills. Volunteers included a contingent from the Golfhino Rotador Project, a non-governmental organization working to preserve the spinner dolphins off the island of Fernanda de Noronha as well as students of UNISINOS University, in the south of Brazil. Collaborating in this project were international marine wildlife experts, who not only instructed the volunteers but made public presentations along the coast of Rio Grande Sul. The Friends of the Sea partnership is part of a larger Chevron Texaco initiative to help create a network of coastal first-aid centres providing support and training for local groups to assist distressed marine animals. Through the ‘Friends of the Sea’ programme, volunteers receive training to become qualified marine wildlife rescuers in the event of an oil spill. An IMO / industry partnership: the Global Initiative IPIECA The OPRC Convention explicitly recognizes the importance of involving the oil and shipping industry in establishing oil spill response arrangements. The oil industry, wishing to respond positively to the objectives of the Convention, requested IPIECA to develop with IMO a basis for cooperative action. The first activity of this cooperative venture was the convening of a series of regional seminars from 1991–94, which were held in South-East Asia, the Mediterranean, Latin America, Africa, the Gulf, the Caribbean and the North-West Pacific. These involved more than 1000 senior officials and managers from government and industry from nearly 100 countries. In March 1996, representatives of government and the oil and shipping industry from 33 African countries participated in the IMO/Industry Oil Spill Planning Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. Government and industry experts from many organizations (i.e. World Bank, UNEP and ITOPF) in Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA also participated. The meeting goal was to promote capacity building and institutional strengthening at national and regional levels, to implement the OPRC Convention and to establish viable and sustainable oil spill response capabilities. It also ensured that all national delegates and international agencies and potential donors had a common view of what was needed for the successful development and application of the IMO/Industry Global Initiative in support of national programmes. The main outcomes of the meeting included: a detailed action plan for the implementation of the Global Initiative with initial emphasis on Africa; education on the benefits and the importance of ratifying the relevant oil spill conventions; a plan for sensitivity mapping workshops in several African countries, oil spill training and exercises and joint IMO/industry technical missions in Angola, Madagascar, Mozambique and Namibia. The leverage of some $3 million from the World Bank to proceed with the Indian Ocean Islands project has enabled the development of oil spill contingency plans and the project is now near completion. Since Cape Town, GI activities have spread to other areas of the world i.e. Caribbean, Caspian and Black Sea and still embody the spirit of the OPRC Convention. It is only through partnerships between both governments and the oil and shipping industry as well as with other international organizations that we can work together to encourage and improve effective and sustainable oil spill contingency planning around the world. 42
CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Oil spill prevention and response Double hulls prove their worth US law mandates that from 2015, only doublehulled vessels can call on American ports. Conoco began operating a 100 per cent doublehulled fleet of crude oil tankers in US waters as far back as August 1998. In December 1998, the company began operating a fleet of 100 per cent double-hulled oil tank barges in US Gulf Coast waters. Double-hulled structures provide an additional measure of protection against oil spills. Unlike some other vessels, tankers’ double hulls encapsulate the engine room, machinery spaces, fuel oil tanks and engine room bilge areas as well as all sides and the bottom of the vessels themselves. Conoco’s two newest double-hulled tankers feature many safety and environmental protection innovations, including low-emission engines, an at-sea ballast system and a hull protection system—all meeting or exceeding marine regulations and standard practices. Internationally, delegates from IMO’s 158 member states have agreed within the Marine Environment Protection Committee to a timetable that will see most single-hulled oil tankers eliminated by 2015. When the Guardian,one of Conoco’s doublehulled tankers, was rammed in 1997, not one of the ship’s 550,000 barells of crude oil was spilled. 43
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WSSD Report FINAL! - OGP

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