Oil spills -
Experience from incidents and the need for
improved coastal predictions
Hilde Dolva
Senior Adviser
NCA’s main tasks
Authority under the Ministry for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs.
Main tasks:
• Piloting and Vessel Traffic Services (VTS)
• Navigational Aids
• Construct, improve and maintain shipping lanes and fishing
harbours, transport-planning activities
• Acute pollution – at sea and onshore
– Manage governmental oil spill response – primarily spills from
vessels
– Co-ordinate the national contingency
– Regulatory authority for industry and municipal oil spill response
operations
Norway in a nutshell
• Geographical features:
– North - South: 1752 km
– Coastline: 80 000 km
– Climatic variations form arctic
in the north to coastal in the
south.
– EEZ approx 2 mill. km2
• Petroleum industry:
– Production 3 mill. bbl./day
– 90 % is exported, 3rd largest
exporting country
– Exploration and production
starting in the Barents Sea.
• Large shipping industry
– And Increasing traffic off the
Norwegian coast
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Some incidents in Norway….
Rocknes 2004
Green Ålesund 2000
Server 2007 John R 2000
Godafoss 2011
Full City 2009 Crete Cement 2008
…not only oil
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
National principles – counter pollution
• Focus on preventive measures and risk reduction
– Risk based – not “worst case”
• Coordination
– Private – Municipal - Governmental
• Response
– As close to the source of the spill as possible to reduce further
pollution and achieve the best net damage reduction
– Use of both mechanical measures and chemical dispersants
• Continuous surveillance of response operations
Pollution incidents- focus on:
• Type of pollution
• Sensitive areas
affected/might be affected
• Oil drift and spreading
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Sensitive areas
http://kart.kystverket.no/
Info needed
• Wind
• Waves
• Currents
• Drift
• Ice
• Tides
When incidents happens
• Need data (weather forecast, oildrift)
quickly, information needed to
operational use (e.g.where to send oil
recovery equipment)
• Information integrated in maps used
• The information - used in the planning
for the next step
Where is the oil…
Predictions oildrift Godafoss
Local knowledge
Foto: Svein
regiongeolo
Beach cleaning
- time consuming
- expensive
Can it be avoided?
Godafoss incident, 17 February 2011
www.kystverket.no
- public information
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Full City – registrert og modellert
strandpåslag
Oil in ice, estimated 1.2 l oil pr 1000 m2
Ice Information must
be:
- detailed (grid)
- updated
Oil weathering
Incident Godafoss 2011
Estimated oil spill112 m3
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Oil recovery budget– Full City
Total on board "Full City" 1154 m3
From open sea 28 m3
From beaches 74 m3
Emergency
pumping from ship 860 m3
Left in nature 191 m3
Tømt
Götavärket ?
Tømt
Langesund
In total 2930 tons is collected
(963 tons of oil)
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Oil samples
• Sampling:
– Thin oil
– Thick oil
– Oil on beaches
– Birds
• Oil identification
What is the source/
securing evidence
Sampling
FID1 A, (220204\004F0401.D)
counts
400000 Pad prøve av
350000
oljefilm på sjø
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 min
Figurer: SINTEF
Spills from: vessels, illegal oil discharge, satellite observations
The oils have different fingerprints
Extent of damage
Chemical dispersion - using vessel, helicopter and/or air
plane
Chemical dispersion
• Must reduce overall environmental impact
• Protect seabirds and shoreline
• Can harm marin organisms
• If used- e.g. Deep Water Horizon – remaining oil?
Stril Poseidon, Draugen
2006
New technology
• Drift buoys –
improved oil drift
models
• Operation in the
darkness - oil
recovery
• Low temperatur/ice
are limiting factors
Challenges
• Weather and current forecasting - linked to oil
recovery possibilities
• Near coast predictions – more accuracy
• Currents
• Ice
• Transfer oil drift predictions (wms) to maps
• NCA needs:
– oil drift predictions during incidents
– historical data for contingency planning
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response
Thank you for your attention!
Thank you for your attention!
“working to keep our coast and waters among the safest and purest in the world”
Norwegian Coastal Administration, Department for Emergency Response