Petron owner had cleaned up 900M-liter oil spill in 1991

The oil spill off the central Philippines island-province of Guimaras may be the largest in the nation's history but it is dwarfed by what Saudi Aramco, which runs and owns 40 percent of Petron Corp., successfully dealt with 15 years ago. Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil refiner, played a key role in cleaning up an oil spill estimated at between 630 to 950 million liters in the Persian Gulf in 1991. The oil leaked into the gulf when Iraqi forces opened valves at an oil terminal near Kuwait City after US-led forces started air attaks during the Gulf War. What became known as the “Gulf oil spill" was also the world’s largest, and was thus more than 3,000-4,700 times greater than the Guimaras oil spill, which officials have so far placed at 200,000 liters. Petron, which is also 40-percent-owned by the government, contracted the M/T Solar 1 to transport some 2 million liters of fuel from its refinery in Bataan to a depot in Zamboanga. Although the bulk of the oil carried by the tanker, which sank last August 11, is still believed to be stored inside the ill-fated vessel, the 200,000 liters of oil that has already spilled into the sea has caused environmental devastation to Guimaras and threatens nearby provinces. The Saudi Aramco-run company, however, said on Wednesday that it was under no obligation to cover the cost of cleanup or to extend economic aid to the communities devastated by the environmental disaster. "Petron is not under any legal or contractual obligation to set aside P10 billion in economic aid or to post a P100-million bond to pay for cleanup as under pertinent Philippine Coast Guard circulars, it is the spiller who is primarily responsible for conducting cleanup operations with the supervision of the Coast Guard," the oil firm said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). "Petron, as mere cargo owner, did not cause the spill and had no part whatsoever in the operation of the vessel which met the unfortunate incident," the firm said. In the May/June 1991 edition of Saudi Aramco World, writer Tom Pledge recounted the steps that the Saudi oil giant took when a far larger oil spill threatened the waters of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian Gulf in 1991: • News of the oil spill was first received by the company’s global oil spill coordinator, Abdulla Zaindin, early morning of January 25, 1991. • The next day, January 26, the company's 11-member Oil Spill Committee had an emergency meeting at met Saudi Aramco headquarters in Dhahran to decide on the manpower, equipment and material needed to counter the oil spill. • The contingency plan, prepared in anticipation of such occurrences, had to be used as guide as it outlined Saudi Aramco’s priorities, top of which were the protection of human life and marine environment. Minimizing loss is only third priority. • As the contingency plan had also defined, the primary goal in any oil spill is “get to the source of the spill." • First in the order of battle against the oil spill was the purchase of oil barrier booms and dispersants, and the chartering of oil-spill control vessels “wherever they could be found." • The oil-spill response team, whose members were pre-designated and who knew that they could be taken out of their regular jobs any time, was activated. • About 55 to 60 divers who went into the oil-covered water. • In the first seven days, 11.2 kilometers (seven miles) of protective booms were deployed. But toward the second week, the dispersant chemicals, a mainstay in clean-up work, proved insufficient as the oil had stayed in the water too long. The system of booms and skimmers became both the first and the last line of defense. • There were regular feed of satellite photos to keep abreast of the behavior of the oil slick, including its direction and affected areas. • Breakwaters of sand along each side of the seawalls were built to deflect water around the seawater intakes. Sand proved more durable than booms and less labor-intensive to maintain. • As the effort continued, the force involved reached a peak of 450 men, 20 vessels, 40 vacuum tank trucks, 35 skimmer boats and 40 pieces of construction equipment. • Protective material and equipment were also released for the protection of marine resources while hundreds of Saudi Aramco employees acted as volunteers in the rescue of sea-birds, turtles and other animals. • Resources were gathered worldwide. Oil-spill fighting equipment came from Japan, Germany, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. From The Netherlands came offshore booms while the Soviet-built Antonov-124, among other chartered planes, was used to carry cargo of equipment. • By May 1991, almost four months after the spill happened, the outflow of oil stopped, with an estimated 900,000 barrels (a little over 143 million liters) of oil recovered. When and where an oil spill happens cannot be anticipated but the experience of Saudi Aramco in the 1991 Gulf oil spill, which was far larger than that off Guimaras, shows human and material resources can be tapped to arrest the effects of an oil spill. -CLARISSA V. MILITANTE, GMANews.TV