Insight: United they stand guard against contamination of Gulf waters

  By Jay B. Hilotin

Preventing oil spills, which cause lasting damage to the marine environment, even before they occur is the main aim of the Regional Clean Sea Organisation (Recso), which groups 12 major oil companies operating in the Gulf as well as oil tanker owners.

An oil spill near a beach is confined by a sand barrier to prevent it from spreading further out into the sea.

"We are also expanding membership to include the different port authorities and electricity and water authorities in the region," said Khamis J. Bu Amim, Recso chairman and vice-president of the Dubai Petroleum Company.

Information sharing is the group's most critical platform for cooperation.

Recso, founded in 1972 as the Gulf Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organisation, is a regional oil and shipping industry cooperative organisation which functions under the concept of "mutual aid" at times of marine oil spills.

It functions as a voluntary, non-commercial association of oil operators with the objective of accomplishing a 'clean sea' vision. In the last 32 years, Recso has had to respond to several oil-spill incidents. The group's resolve and procedures had been put to the test in battling oil spills during the Gulf War in 1991.

Responsibilities

"Each of the marine-based organisations within the Gulf has its share of responsibility to protect the sea from any possible contamination and its sustainability for the next generation," said Bu Amim, who is also the vice-chairman of Offshore Arabia 2004 Conference and Exhibition to be held in November.

"The marine environment of the Gulf is very sensitive. Apart from its oil resources, the sea is the major source of water and marine food."

The oil companies in the region recognised a need for collective response to major oil pollution incidents and thus came together to achieve a common objective – protecting the Gulf's resources from oil pollution.

Recso's principal activity is to provide vigilant services through coordination of a joint response during marine emergencies.

Recently, it has expanded its activity to promote best operational practices under the policy of "prevention is better than response".

According to Dr A. T. Shanmugam, executive director of the Dubai-based organisation, this has gradually cut down the number of operational oil spills within the member oil companies.

Tanker operations

Recso has identified tanker operations as one of the major causes of oil pollution rather than the oil companies. This has slowly promoted the induction of national shipping companies as full members of this expanded organisation.

Bu Amim said: "The real challenge for us is to continue operating as a mutual aid group. We have established a record cooperation and must expand to include not only oil companies but also port authorities, tanker operators and electricity and water authorities. Information sharing is the most critical platform for cooperation."

The group's technical committee met in Dubai recently to hammer out ways of cooperation to further define terms of cooperation to prevent accidental oil spills or deal with these when they occur in Gulf waters.

The group is also trying to cooperate with environmental authorities in the region to identify "places of refuge" for stricken tankers.

It also offers specialist training courses in environmental protection, oil spill prevention, control and response, and other related subjects.

Keeping marine environment clean
* A satellite-based tracking system will monitor oil dumps and other toxic chemicals in the Gulf waters.

* Recso is currently expanding membership to the national shipping companies.

* Recso believes large spills are often caused by collisions, groundings, structural damage, fires and explosions, whereas the majority of individual reports relate to small operational spillages.

* Every tonne of oil (about 7 barrels) spilled in major incidents costs over $1,500 to clean up, according to Recso executive director, Dr A.T. Shanmugam  SOURCE gulf-news.com