Pollution

Citation

(2008), "Pollution", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 17 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2008.07317dac.003

Pollution

Article Type: Disaster database From: Disaster Prevention and Management, Volume 17, Issue 4

31 July 2006Bryansk region, Russia

An oil spill has polluted a wide area in the Bryansk region of western Russia and could lead to an “environmental catastrophe”, Russian officials say. The leak happened on one of Russia’s largest export pipelines, Russia’s natural resources ministry said. The contaminated area, in the Surozh district, is reported to be about 10 sq. km, affecting forests, rivers and lakes. The cause of the spill on the Druzhba pipeline was not immediately known

27 July 2006Nembe Creek, Bonny Area, Nigeria

Shell has declared a “force majeure” at Bonny Offshore Terminal, effective from 18.00 yesterday. This is due to a leakage/rupture pipeline from Nembe Creek, which supplies crude oil to the terminal. As a result of the loss in production, the terminal is understood to be losing 180,000-200,000 bpd. New acceptance dates for cargo liftings have not been given yet.

28 July 2006

A quarter of Nigeria’s tanker export capacity has been shut down after Royal Dutch Shell called force majeure on its Bonny August loadings and kept its Forcados and EA terminals closed. A pipeline leak on the country’s second largest onshore oilfield in the eastern Delta has closed down 180,000 barrels of production a day, forcing Shell to announce that it cannot honor its export contracts from the Bonny terminal. More than 850,000 barrels a day of Nigeria’s production capacity is off line due to militant attacks and pipeline leaks on Shell and Agip facilities. The latest pipeline problem also shuts in 30,000 bpd of Chevron’s output. Italian oil major Agip has closed down the 200,000 bpd Ogbainbiri flow station after local youths entered the site and closed down the pumps. Its output is usually exported through the Brass tanker terminal. Demand for tanker loadings in Nigeria will fall by almost one suezmax a day through August until Shell and Agip can restart their production. A spokeswoman at Shell confirmed that force majeure continued at Forcados and EA in the western Delta but exports continue through the company’s Bonga deepwater project and Exxon-Mobil operated Erha. Force majeure was called on Bonny exports after Shell found a leak from the Sanbarth-Krakrama pipeline into the Nemba creek and shut it down a week ago. “We do not know the cause of the leak but hope to have it repaired fairly soon. It usually takes a few weeks,” said Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer. “For the rest of the shut-in production we expect some time this year to get some of this back, but it will not be significant. We need to do repairs and this takes time.”

28 July 2006

The Nigerian arm of Royal Dutch Shell has started work on repairing a pipeline where a leak has forced the shutdown of 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) in oil output, a spokesman said today. Shell is losing 180,000 bpd because of the leak discovered a week ago in a section of its Nembe Creek trunk line in Rivers state in the Niger Delta, while Chevron is losing 30,000 bpd that should be going through the same pipeline. “We are going ahead with repairs at this time,” a Shell spokesman said, adding that the firm could not tell how long the repairs might take. Shell on Wednesday (July 26) declared a force majeure, or a release from honoring contracts, on Bonny Light exports because of the leak, but the company has said loadings are continuing at the Bonny terminal. Shell has not made any official comment on what caused the leak, but a company source in the delta’s main city of Port Harcourt said the damage was accidentally caused by another company working in the area

4 August 2006Westwood Anette (Bahamas)

An oil spill fouled the waters of Howe Sound north of Vancouver today. Dan Bate, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, said the bulker with container capacity Westwood Anette (28805 gt, built 1987) hit a pier at a terminal and a fuel tank burst. “Coast Guard emergency response is being dispatched,” Bate said. He said a clean-up company was contracted immediately. The crew arrived and a hole in the vessel was repaired about an hour after it ruptured. “The spill was contained as soon as possible,” said Alex Mendes, a spokesman for Ocean Agencies, hired by Westwood Shipping to coordinate the clean-up. Mendes could not say how much oil spilled into the water. “All I can say is we’ve got about 20 personnel working out in the water with various heavy equipment.”

7 August 2006

About two-thirds of an estimated 7,700 gallons of oil that spilled from bulker with container capacity Westwood Anette into an ecologically sensitive estuary have been recovered, officials said yesterday. A small number of oil-soaked birds have been found, said Dave Smith of the Canadian Wildlife Service. He noted there aren’t many birds nesting in the marshy area this time of year. Officials predicted the estuary would be cleaned and restored by fall. The spill occurred Friday afternoon after Westwood Anette struck a pier while leaving a terminal, puncturing two holes in a fuel tank. Thick bunker fuel spilled into the water and was quickly pushed by the wind about 1,640 feet into Howe Sound, a stretch of water along the highway between Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler. The heavy oil also seeped into the Squamish estuary, a marshy area that is home to many species of birds and wildlife.

7 August 2006

Following received from the operators of bulker with container capacity Westwood Anette. The owners and managers of Westwood Anette, which came into contact with a fender at the port of Squamish, BC, on August 4 while undocking, with a pilot on board and assisted by two tugs, report that all efforts continue to clean up oil from around the vessel, under the dock and in the surrounding shore and marsh areas. The owner ’s and manager’s appointed clean up contractor, Burrard Clean, has some 100 personnel on scene engaged in the clean-up operation and has deployed booms around the vessel, with skimmers to remove surface oil from the surrounding areas. It is hoped that a local contractor can be engaged to assist with any birds that may have been oiled. The vessel sustained damage, penetrating no. 4 starboard fuel oil tank, when it came into contact with the outer vertical fender pile on the dock. It is estimated that less than 30 tonnes of oil was lost into the water as a result. The leak has stopped and it is hoped that following gas-freeing of the affected tank, that repairs can be completed on these holes in the next few days. The owners and managers are cooperating fully with Transport Canada and all appropriate local authorities in connection with this incident and would like to thank all those involved for their timely and professional response The owner’s insurers have contracted expert environmental assistance in directing the clean-up operation.

9 August 2006

After a five-day clean-up effort, the Environmental Response Unit of the Canadian Coast Guard announced yesterday that 29,000 liters of oil, spilled in the port at Squamish, by bulker with container capacity Westwood Anette, has either been recovered or washed up on shore. “The response organizations and the Coast Guard were all on scene within a couple of hours,” said Canadian Coast Guard environmental response superintendent Don Rodden. “The majority of the oil was underneath the dock so to contain the oil in and around the ship was our no. 1 priority.” The oil-soaked shores, Squamish Estuary and wildlife have now become the central focus where response teams are removing oil-soaked debris and other material. According to Rodden the Squamish oil spill is the largest on BC’s West Coast in 15 years.

17 August 2006Bright Artemis (Singapore)

Mitsui OSK Lines, Ltd (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) reports that the MOL-owned crude oil tanker Bright Artemis which sustained a gash on its hull above the water during a rescue operation of a distressed vessel, (general cargo Amar) is now proceeding toward the sea off the shore of Penang. On the day of the incident, August 14, crude oil was leaked from the damaged part of Bright Artemis and its volume is estimated to about 4,500 tons or less. However, there have been no further spillages. MOL sent six oil spill control and response experts to the site yesterday to examine the status of the oil spillage. According to radio communications with our marine experts on the charter plane that transported the six experts; there were some oil patches of a few square meters found at the site, but a broad oil sheen was not observed. MOL received an opinion from the oil spill control and response experts on the plane – they recommend not using treatments such as spreading dispersant at the area under the current status of the spill. Also, masters of two oil tankers and one car carrier, all owned by MOL, informed MOL that they did not observe any oil sheen in the area of the incident when they sailed through the area. There is a high possibility that the crude oil that was spilled in the area of the incident is evaporating quickly. In addition to the fact that crude oil is light-sulphur and has high volatility, sea water’s high temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and strong winds and high waves in the monsoon season may become factors which allow for the quick evaporation of the oil. MOL is going to keep the surveillance of the site. The chartered plane left Singapore 07.10, JST, yesterday and observed the sea area between lat 06 30N, long 90 00E, and lat 05 40N, long 88 50E, which include the area of the incident by flying in zigzags for two hours from 12.00 to 14.00 hrs at an altitude of 50 meters.

18 August 2006

Emergency repairs to crude oil tanker Bright Artemis are expected to start in the next few days, off the coast of Penang, Malaysia. Tanker owner Mitsui OSK Lines yesterday confirmed that the vessel, which was gashed trying to rescue the crew of general cargo Amar, was close to Penang. MOL spokesman Kenji Shikano said repairs would be done at sea. Crew on board Bright Artemis redistributed oil from the two ruptured tanks to other undamaged tanks. MOL said an aerial survey of the casualty area, by six oil spill and response specialists, found some oil patches covering a few square meters, but no major oil slick. The aircraft flew over the area for two hours at a height of 50 meters.

23 August 2006

London, Aug 23 — Mitsui OSK Lines was unable to confirm broker reports that it has booked the tanker Oriental Venture to transport crude oil from its crude oil tanker Bright Artemis which sustained damage in the Indian Ocean last week. A broker told Reuters the 255,000 dwt single-hulled Oriental Venture is expected to take on the cargo from the VLCC Bright Artemis via a ship-to-ship transfer operation. Bright Artemis is currently anchored ten miles west of Malaysia’s Penang port. An MOL spokesman said the vessel will be repaired where it is lying at anchor. As MOL was not prepared to confirm the Reuters story it is not possible to ascertain where such a transfer of cargo might take place. Bright Artemis had been carrying 249,997 tonnes of crude oil from Omanøs Mina Al Fahal and Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura terminal when it was holed above the water line by the 14,680 dwt container vessel Amar during an operation intended to rescue the latter vessel after it caught fire on August 14. About 4,500 tonnes of oil spilled into the eastern Indian Ocean from the single-hull tanker after its sustained a five meters long, one meter high gash on the starboard side about 1.7 meters above the water line.