Author(s): Karl-Ulrich Evers; Kristin Rist Sorheim; Ivar Singsaas
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Sea ice; Oil spill response; Contingency; Oil recovery systems; Pechora Se
Abstract: The oil and gas resources of the Arctic regions in Russia are the world’s biggest energy reserve outside the OPEC countries. The Arctic Operational Platfonn Program (ARCOP) is a research and technology development program with the overall objective to form an operational platform for development of gas and oil transportation in the Arctic region. Increasing activities in oil and gas exploration, production and transportation in the Barents Sea and Pechora Sea are associated with higher risk of oil spills. The environmental safety of shipping has lately become a central issue in transport by sea. This task of the ARCOP programme is mainly focussed on recommendations of oil spill response along the shipping route from the loading terminal at Varandey to the transhipment terminal at the Murmansk sea port in Russia. Along this route the tankers will meet various types of ice and open water conditions during year round shipping. Different existing oil spill response systems and methods like mechanical oil recovery, insitu burning and use of dispersants is evaluated with respect to their application in a cold environment. In the case of an oil spill, the combating strategy will strongly depend on response time, ice conditions, weather/current/wave conditions, availability of equipment, icebreakers, icebreaking supply vessels, helicopters etc. In addition, the properties of the oil products, amount of oil spilled in the sea or in ice and duration of the spill are important aspects for the choice of efficient oil spill response technology. The achievements and recommendations of the study can be used by decision makers and for oil spill contingency planning.
Year: 2006