Information Engineering of Emergency Treatment for Marine Oil Spill Accidents

Lin Mu, Lizhe Wang, Jining Yan

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000691016
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

Oil spills are a serious marine disaster. Oil spill accidents usually occur in shipping, ports and offshore oil development. Although most are emergent events, once an oil spill occurs, it will cause great harm to the marine ecological environment, andbring direct harm to the economic development along the affected coast as well as to human health and public safety.

Information Engineering of Emergency Treatment for Marine Oil Spill Accidents analyzes the causes of these accidents, introduces China's emergency response system, discussestechnologies such as remote sensing and monitoring of oil spill on the sea surface and oil fingerprint identification, studies model prediction of marine oil spill behavior and fate and emergency treatment technologies for oil spills on the sea surface, and emphatically introduces the emergency prediction and warning system for oil spills in the Bohai Sea as well as oil spill-sensitive resources and emergency resource management systems.

Features:

• The status quo and causes of marine oil spill pollution, as well as hazards of oil spill on the sea.

• 
  
  

• The emergency response system for marine oil spills.

• 
  
  

• Model-based prediction methods of marine oil spills.

• 
  
  

• A series of used and developing emergency treatments of oil spill on the sea.

• 
  
  

This book serves as a reference for scientific investigators who want to understand the key technologies for emergency response to marine oil spill accidents, including the current level and future development trend of China in this field.

Chapter 1

Emergency Response System for Marine Oil Spill Accidents

1.1Current Situation of Marine Oil Spill Pollution and Cause Analysis

1.1.1Major Marine Oil Spill Pollution Accidents at Home and Abroad

1.1.1.1Major marine oil spill accidents abroad

1.1.1.2Major marine oil spill accidents in China

1.1.2Cause Analysis on Marine Oil Spill Pollution

1.1.2.1Cause analysis on oil spill pollution from ships

1.1.2.2Cause analysis on oil spill pollution from offshore oil and gas fields

1.2Hazards of Marine Oil Spill Pollution

1.2.1Hazards of Oil Spills to Human Health and Public Safety

1.2.2Hazards of Oil Spills to the Environment

1.3Construction of the Emergency Response System for Marine Oil Spills

1.3.1International Convention System for Marine Oil Spill Emergency Response

1.3.2Construction of Emergency Response Systems of Developed Countries for Marine Oil Spills

1.3.2.1The United States

1.3.2.2Japan

1.3.2.3Britain

1.3.2.4Germany

1.3.2.5France

1.3.3Construction of China’s Emergency Response System for Marine Oil Spills

1.3.3.1Current situation of China’s emergency response system for marine oil spills

1.3.3.2Deficiency of China’s emergency response system for marine oil spills

1.3.3.3Comprehensively strengthen the construction of China’s emergency response system for marine oil spills

With the rapid development of the economy, China’s energy demand has increased significantly. Since China transformed from an oil exporter to an oil importer in 1993, the import volume of crude oil has been increasing continuously. According to Customs’ statistics, in 2006, China’s crude oil import reached 1.45×10⁸ tons, domestic crude oil output reached 1.85×10⁸ tons, and the foreign-trade dependency was 42.7%; in 2007, China’s crude oil import reached 1.6×10⁸ tons, increasing by 12.4% over the previous year, domestic crude oil output reached 1.87×10⁸ tons, and the foreign-trade dependency was 46%; in 2008, China’s crude oil import reached 1.79×10⁸ tons, increasing by 9.6% over the previous year, domestic crude oil output reached 1.9×10⁸ tons, and the foreign-trade dependency was 49.8%; in 2009, China became the world’s second largest importer of crude oil, with the foreign-trade dependency as high as 51.29%, exceeding the warning line of 50%; in 2010, China’s crude oil import reached 2.4×10⁸ tons, increasing by 17.5% over the previous year. The continuous increase of energy demand has accelerated the development of China’s offshore oil transportation industry and oil exploitation industry. Accordingly, oil tankers increases continuously, the scale of offshore oil exploration and development and submarine pipeline installation unceasingly expands, and the risk of accident, especially major and extra serious oil spill accidents, also increases greatly.

China’s marine oil spill accidents have been recorded since the 1970s. For example, in 1973, an accident caused by a ship collision (“Daqing 36”) in Dalian Port caused a spill of crude oil of up to 1,400 tons, which brought serious damage to the marine environment at that time. According to statistics, from 1973 to 2006, there were 2,635 ship oil-spill accidents occurring in the coastal waters of China, among which there were 69 major ship oil spill accidents of more than 50 tons, and the total oil spill volume was 3.7077 ×10⁴ tons, with an average of 2 accidents per year and an average of 537 tons per accident. On July 16, 2010, the huge explosion of two oil pipelines in the New Port in Dalian shocked the country and caused a huge crude oil spill, which affected a large sea area around the port. Some sea area was heavily polluted and the environment was severely damaged, inflicting heavy losses on the local fishing industry. In addition, the accident led to the temporary closure of the New Port in Dalian, which affected the normal operation of ships and caused huge economic losses to the port and shipping industry.

It is obvious that major marine oil spill pollution will certainly damage China’s offshore marine environment, affect people’s lives and hinder the normal development of the country’s economy. Therefore, it is of great urgency to understand the cause of marine oil spill pollution, carry out research on key technologies of marine oil spill emergency response, build and perfect the emergency response system for oil spills, provide decision making support for emergency response and treatment of oil spill accidents, and improve the capacity and technical level of oil spill emergency response. It cannot only provide corresponding technical support for protecting the environmental safety of China’s offshore waters, but also provide necessary guarantee for the healthy and stable development of China’s oil transportation and exploitation industries.

1.1 Current Situation of Marine Oil Spill Pollution and Cause Analysis

1.1.1 Major Marine Oil Spill Pollution Accidents at Home and Abroad

Since the 1960s, more than 10,000 tons of oil spill accidents have occurred almost every year in the world, and the large amount of oil spill caused by the accidents has seriously affected the marine environment. Before the 1990s, the occurrence rate of oil spill accidents was high, and the oil spill volume was large. Since the 1990s, the occurrence rate of oil spill accidents has decreased, and the oil spill volume has also relatively reduced. However, the deteriorating marine ecological environment and the increasing environmental awareness of governments and people in various countries make marine oil spill accidents receive more and more attention. In recent decades, the catastrophic consequences of major marine oil spill accidents were startling. Some of the accidents occurred due to bad weather and sea conditions, while some were caused by human errors. In any case, the environmental damage and economic losses they caused are huge and immeasurable. Several typical major oil spill accidents at home and abroad will be reviewed below, in order to provide reference for readers.

1.1.1.1 Major marine oil spill accidents abroad

1. Torrey Canyon supertanker accident

The oil spill of Torrey Canyon, a supertanker registered in Liberia, occurring in 1967 was the first large-scale marine oil spill accident in the world. Before the accident, the planned route of the oil tanker was to pass west of the Isles of Scilly, and on March 18, the oil tanker changed course temporarily for some reason. The captain ignored the relevant warnings in the navigation guide, and chose the waterway east of the Isles of Scilly and west of Seven Stones Reef. In the course of navigating to the turning point of the waterway, the supertanker was hampered by several fishing vessels and unable to turn on time, and the operation in the use of automatic pilot was chaotic. As a result, the supertanker hit Pollard’s Rock on Seven Stones Reef at a speed of 15.8 knots. The damaged part of the bottom accounted for more than half of the length of the tanker, and 3×10⁴ tons of crude oil spilled within 2∼3 hours. Within one week of the accident, another 2×10⁴ tons of crude oil spilled. Rescue efforts were made after the accident. However, due to the severe sea conditions, the keel broke off on March 26, and another 5×10⁴ tons of crude oil spilled out. The total oil spill volume reached about 1×10⁵ tons, and rescue efforts also ended in failure. On March 28, the British Air Force was ordered to bomb the tanker. Three days of bombing broke the deck of each oil tank, and the remaining crude oil was set fire. In the meantime, 2.50×10⁶ gallons of dispersants were sprayed over marine oil spills, and detergents were adopted on contaminated beaches.

Affected by strong winds, the crude oil changed its direction and drifted across the English Channel to Cape Verde Peninsula in France, contaminating 242 sea miles of shoreline, including south and north banks of Cornwall Peninsula in Britain, Guernsey Island in the English Channel and the north and east of Brittany Peninsula in France. The contamination not only damaged aquaculture and tourism, but also cost a lot of money to clean-up the oil. The economic loss of this accident was estimated at £10,500 British pounds.

2. Exxon Valdez tanker accident

In 1989, Exxon’s tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and spilled 3.6×10⁴ tons of crude oil. Due to the bad weather, emergency measures failed, and 18,600 kilometers of shoreline became a polluted area, with a thick oil slick covering about 1,600 square kilometers of seawater.

This accident caused catastrophic damage to the ecological environment of the Gulf of Alaska. 250,000 seabirds, nearly 4,000 sea otters, 300 spotted seals, 250 white-headed sea eagles and 22 killer whales died. The spawning grounds of salmons and herrings were contaminated by crude oil, and salmon and herring resources almost became extinct, leading to the collapse of the once-thriving herring industry and the closure of fishing grounds and facilities on which tens of thousands of fishermen and local residents depend. Although Exxon paid about $8 billion in fines, clean-up costs, compensation and other costs for the pollution, the accident cost the Alaskan fishing industry nearly $20 billion and the tourism industry nearly $19 billion, and the ecological damage from the oil spill could not be measured in dollars.

3. Prestige tanker accident

The tanker Prestige, made in Japan in the 1970s, was a single-hull oil tanker with a capacity of 8×10⁴ tons. On November 13, 2002, the tanker, carrying 7.7×10⁴ tons of heavy fuel oil, was hit by a strong storm while passing through Spanish waters. The storm damaged the oil tanks on the tanker, causing fuel oil spill, and an oil spill zone of about 2.5 sea miles wide and 20 sea miles long was formed quickly on the sea surface. Under the influence of wind and waves, the oil spill and the runaway Prestige drifted toward the coast of Galicia, Spain, and the tanker ran aground about eight sea miles off the coast of Galicia. In order to reduce pollution losses, on November 17, the Spanish government decided to tow the Prestige to the waters southwest of the Atlantic. On November 19, the Prestige broke off 150 sea miles off the coast of Spain and sank at a depth of 3,500 meters because of damage to its hull and the impact of wind and waves. According to the information released by the Spanish government, about 1.7 × 10⁴ tons of fuel oil spilled as of the time of the tanker’s sinking, and the oil contaminated 400 kilometers of shoreline in Galicia. A thick layer of oil covered the shore, and the rivers, creeks and marshes near the shore were seriously polluted. The sunken Prestige continued to spill oil, and a part of France’s shoreline was also polluted.

Ten countries, including Spain, Germany, France and Portugal, participated in the emergency response of the accident, which is an emergency action by far with the largest scope of international cooperation and the largest number of participating countries. In the oil spill emergency response of this accident, relevant departments used a series of high-tech means, including satellite and aerial remote sensing and monitoring and oil spill model prediction, to provide strong technical support and guarantee for decision making in the oil spill emergency response.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of the preventive measures taken by governments for the oil spill accidents and oil spill clean-up was between 215 and 320 million Euros, the compensation for fishing and breeding industries was 80 and 250 million Euros, and the damage to tourism and the ecological environment was immeasurable.

4. Gulf of Mexico De...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Authors
• 1. Emergency Response System for Marine Oil Spill Accidents
• 2. Remote Sensing Monitoring of Marine Oil Spills
• 3. Emergency Monitoring of Marine Oil Spill Accidents
• 4. Model Prediction of Marine Oil Spills
• 5. Emergency Prediction and Warning System of Oil Spill in the Bohai Sea
• 6. Environmentally Sensitive Resources and Emergency Resources of Oil Spills
• 7. Emergency Treatment of Marine Oil Spill
• References
• Index