TANKER SPILLS NORWEGIAN CRUDE OIL OFF SHETLANDS

Crude oil was spilling last week from the U.S. owned Braer tanker after the 89,000 dwt vessel ran aground on the south end of Scotland's Shetland Islands.

Workers were.trying to assess the extent of damage to the tanker, shoreline, and wildlife after the Jan. 5 accident.

Braer's cargo amounted to 607,000 bbl of Norwegian oil bound for Canada. There was no reliable estimate of how much oil had entered the water at Oil & Gas Journal presstime last week.

Braer is owned and operated by Braer Corp., in turn owned by B&H Shipping, Stamford, Conn. The vessel is insured by Skuld Protection & Indemnity, Oslo. Skuld hired International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, London, to assess the situation.

Braer loaded its cargo and sailed Jan. 3 from Den norske stats oljeselskap AS's Mongstad, Norway, terminal with crude from Gullfaks field in the Norwegian North Sea. The $11 million shipment was destined for Ultramar Canada Inc.'s 125,000 b/d refinery at St. Romuald, Que.

Ultramar chartered the vessel for a single voyage. Terms of the charter require the shipowner to carry substantial pollution insurance coverage.

Ultramar said the ship was leaking oil from its bow and stern after it was slammed aground by high winds and waves.

Smit International, Rotterdam, is under contract to carry out salvage of the vessel. Smit surveyed the wreck using a tug and a helicopter Jan. 6 but was not able to confirm the extent of damage to storage tanks. Smit was called in last month to salvage the Aegean Sea tanker after an oil spill off La Coruna, Spain (OGJ, Jan. 4, p. 24).

At noon Jan. 7 the U.K. Department of Transport (DOT) said the wreckage was still in one piece and had not shifted overnight, although there was concern that the vessel would be split by heavy seas.

Smit said the Braer cargo was stored in three rows of nine tanks. A spokesman said at 1 p.m. Jan. 7 there was little hope of getting anyone onboard that day to estimate the amount of oil remaining.

A stick of solid oil was estimated to be 4-5 miles long and had crept slowly north as far as St. Ninian's Head. A BBC radio report said oil was seen 10 miles north of the wreckage and was threatening salmon farms.

Dispersant spraying was hindered by high winds, DOT said, but southwesterly winds were keeping the oil inshore and preventing it from spreading as quickly as it might.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Braer, registered in Liberia, experienced an engine failure about 5 a.m. Jan. 5 as it passed between the Orkney and Shetland islands during a storm.

Chief Engineer Ulthie Roldan later told reporters, "There were problems with the generator and boiler. The generator was not firing. Seawater had got into the fuel tank, and we could not restart the engines."

Shetlands Coast Guardsmen immediately sent a helicopter from Sumburgh airport and two tugs from Sullom Voe. The tugs had to turn back and could not have towed the vessel in such bad weather, but the helicopter reached the drifting tanker about 6:30 a.m.

Sixteen nonessential crewmen were airlifted off the ship, while the remaining 18 were taken off later, by a Royal Air Force Sea King helicopter from Lossiemouth Air Base.

The Star Sirius support vessel arrived on the scene by 9:45 a.m. Braer Capt. Alexanderus Gelis then took three crewmen and two marine pilots back onboard. Rockets with lines attached were fired from the Braer but missed the Star Sirius.

VESSEL AGROUND

The Braer struck rocks in Garths Ness shortly after 11 a.m. Jan. 5. Four men were winched off just before the vessel ran aground. The captain and one of the pilots were winched off safely soon afterward.

DOT issued a statement that day that said contingency arrangements were put in place by its Marine Pollution Control Unit in concert with the Shetland Islands Council as soon as it became clear the ship would run aground.

"The first line of attack is dispersant spraying from the pollution unit's DC3 aircraft," DOT said. "Six aircraft are at Inverness, but because of storm force winds cannot presently fly into Sumburgh.

"Conditions at sea are too rough to allow recovery operations or spraying from vessels. We must assume that all oil will be spilled."

DOT said about 40% of the oil can be expected to evaporate and a further 20-30% to disperse in the very heavy seas. Some oil will move ashore. On rocky shores it will be washed off and dispersed by waves, as happened in the Aegean Sea spill. That which reaches coves, bays, and beaches can be cleaned up as conditions allow.

By 11:30 a.m. Jan. 6, DOT said, the tanker was still in one piece. Six DC3s had been spraying dispersants over the area for 1 hr. A spokeswoman said the weather was still bad but improved from the night before.

Solid oil was reported south and east of the wreckage, with broken oil farther east toward Sumburgh Head. No oil had spread north and west.

SINGLE HULL, SAFETY

The fact that the 18 year old tanker had only a single hull set off a flurry of debate in Britain. But one source said a double hull would have been no protection with a force 10 gale slamming the vessel into shoreline rocks.

Kris Lunde, a spokesman for Det norske Veritas Classification AS, Oslo, told the Independent newspaper of London the vessel had a very good safety record.

"Its last periodic survey was carried out in July 1989, and its last annual inspection was in May last year," Lunde said. "If our inspectors find anything that could improve seaworthiness, they make what is known as a recommendation. We never found cause to make a recommendation. This was a very good ship."

DOT's Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the Braer accident, as are Liberian authorities.

ULTRAMAR POSITION

"We are treating this with an utmost sense of urgency," said Jean Gaulin, chairman and chief executive officer of Ultramar Corp., Tarryton, N.Y., Ultramar Canada parent.

"Under the charter, the shipowner has primary responsibility for accident and pollution loss and damage.

"We have put the vessel owner on notice of its obligation to take whatever action is necessary to minimize damage and loss."

API REACTION

The American Petroleum Institute said the "regrettable" spill should not overshadow the progress being made in preventing and responding to oil spills in U.S. waters.

"The incidence and volume of U.S. tanker spills have been dramatically declining," API said.

"In 1991, only slightly more than 1,000 bbl of oil and petroleum products were spilled in U.S. waters, the smallest amount in 14 years. In the first half of 1992, the most recent period for which data are available, there was not a single major spill reported in U.S. waters."

API noted the Coast Guard has increased its regulation of tankers operating off the U.S., and industry has established the Marine Spill Response Corp. to combat spills when they occur (OGJ, Dec. 28, 1992, p. 21).

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.