A skimmer and boom are employed to cope with a hypothetical oil spill. The skimmer was provided by the Clean Channels Association, an industry mutual aid group. The boom was deployed and skimmer operated by Garner Environmental, Houston. Photo and text by Warren True, Pipeline/Gas Processing Editor.
About 250 people representing nine major oil companies and three government agencies participated in an emergency-response oil spill drill along the Houston Ship Channel last week.
The drill began at about 3:30 a.m., when a hypothetical pipeline rupture near Panther Creek, which flows into the Ship Channel, released about 2,500 bbl of crude oil that promptly flowed into the channel.
About 5 a.m., the captain of an inbound tugboat pulling four barges in the channel ran aground trying to avoid the spill that had flowed into the channel.
Events were complicated by one of the barges leaking about 1,800 bbl of lube base stock, and two other barges appeared to be taking on water.
These staged events preceded the assembly of spill-response personnel at 8 a.m. at the command post and joint information center at the Sylvan Beach Pavilion, La Porte, Tex., overlooking the Ship Channel.
Companies playing the roles of responsible parties in the spill were Conoco Inc., Shell Oil Co., and Texaco Inc. Observing oil companies were Amoco Corp., Aramco Services Co., Exxon, Fina, Marathon Oil Co., and Star Enterprise.
Government agencies participating were Harris County Office of Emergency Management, Texas General Land Office, and U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office for Houston-Galveston.
Rick Oshlo, Conoco Inc. vice-president for crude-oil supply and trading, said this was a "unique drill in that the scenario involves three parties, adding immeasurably to the complexities of the exercise in terms of liabilities, who's in charge, and formulating an effective response to the situation."
Industry efforts, he said, have always been focused primarily on prevention, but "...reality tells us incidents will occur so we should be prepared."
Among industry objectives in the drill, said Oshlo, were the need to learn from each other and the agencies, to share best practices, to find ways to improve individual company responses, and to create a unified command response among companies and agencies."
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
