photo (c) MCSM

Enhancement of Oil Spill Response System
by Establishing Oil Database

The objective of this project was to improve the mechanism of effective coordination between international response forces in case of emergency spills of Russian oil in the waters of northern seas, taking into account the prediction of oil behavior in cold environments.

During oil spills, there may be changes in physical and chemical properties of oil that affect the behavior of the oil patch. The expectation is that laboratory data on oil weathering will make it possible to predict the behavior of oil at sea more accurately under various weather conditions and, therefore, to choose the most efficient response measures, for example, mechanical recovery, use of dispersants, etc. Creation of a data bank on laboratory data would optimize the mechanism of interaction between the international response forces in case of trans-regional and cross-border oil spills. Taking into account the expected growth of production and transportation of oil in the Arctic the implementation of these activities would significantly contribute to reduction of the risk of accidents and, therefore, potential threats to the environment and traditional life-sustaining activities in the Arctic.

The following tasks were performed:

1. Oil weathering studies and database establishment
2. Study of the dispersants performance with different types of oil
3. Improvement of interaction pattern between response forces based on the created oil database
4. Development of recommendations for the application of the database and improvement of the technology of the emergency oil spill response

Project main page at MCSM

Project partners:

Lead partner:

• State Regional Centre for Standardization, Metrology and Testing in the Murmansk Region, Russia

Partners:

• Norwegian Coastal Administration, Norway
• Federal State Unitary Enterprise Murmansk Salvage Department, Russia
• Storvik Consult, Murmansk, Russia
• Murmansk Administration for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Russia
• University of Oulu, NorTech Oulu, Finland
• Associates:
• Finnish Environment Institute, Finland
• Ministry of Economic Development of the Murmansk Region, Russia
  

Project publications:

Elena Fedorova, Kari Lampela and Niko Hänninen (2013) Finnish Experience in Oil Spill Prevention and Response in The Baltic Sea. Project report. University of Oulu, NorTech Oulu. 50 p.

Elena Fedorova, Niko Hänninen and Eva Pongrácz (2013) Finnish Experience in Oil Spill Prevention and Response in The Baltic Sea. In: Water Research at the University of Oulu. Proceedings of the WaRes Conference. Oulu, 15.8.2013. pp. 174-179.

Nikolay Dedkov, Raisa Ripachova, Elena Gorshenina, Olga Mikhailova and Eva Pongrácz (2013) Developing an oil spill response system for the Barents Sea: Laboratory study of oil slick behaviour in sea water in different weather conditions and the effect of dispersants. In: Water Research at the University of Oulu. Proceedings of the WaRes Conference. Oulu, 15.8.2013. pp. 180-186.

Nikolay Dedkov, Raisa Ripachova, Elena Gorshenina, Olga Mikhailova and Eva Pongrácz (2014) Laboratory study of oil slick behaviour in sea water in cold weather conditions: Improving the oil spill response system for the Barents Sea. Poster presented at the Arctic Frontiers 2014 Conference, Tromsø, Norway 19.-24.1.2014.

Project funding:

• Kolarctic ENPI CBC programme

Duration
2012 - 2014

Contact person in Finland:

Eva Pongrácz, project responsible leader at UOulu
Niko Hänninen, project manager

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