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OIL SPILL BOOKS |
Arabian Gulf/Kuwait SpillArabian Gulf/Kuwait SpillPersian Gulf, Kuwait 01/19/91 Incident Summary Oil was spilled into the Arabian Gulf when the Iraqi Army occupying Kuwait began destroying tankers, oil terminals, and oil wells late in January 1991. Approximately 9,000,000 barrels of oil spilled. Behavior of Oil Approximately 9,000,000 barrels of oil spilled onto Kuwait lands or into the Arabian Gulf. An estimated third of the total amount of oil released evaporated. Approximately 8,000,000 barrels of oil spilled directly into the Arabian Gulf forming a 600 square-mile oil slick. An unknown amount of the oil sank. Four hundred miles of the western shoreline of the gulf was oiled. The areas between Safaniya and Abu Ali Island in Saudi Arabia were the most severely impacted. Tarmats up to 12 inches thick formed on some of these beaches. Over a million barrels of oil were removed from the Arabian Gulf by April 1991 by cleanup operations. Countermeasures and Mitigation While the ongoing war between Iraq and the United Nations Coalition Forces prevented most options for response to the spills, some efforts were made during the war. Most significant was the sealing of open pipelines at the Mina Al Ahmadi facility using smart bombs deployed from Coalition force aircraft. During the war, the United States Coast Guard conducted overflights with SLAR aircraft, and made onshore observations to track the movement of the slick. Postwar efforts were organized by Saudi Arabia's Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO), a Saudi owned oil company, the Meteorological and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA), and the Royal Commission for Jubayl and Yanbu. Firefighting, environmental and biological experts from around the world came to the Middle East to advise on mitigation operations. In Saudi Arabia the initial response concentrated on protecting desalinization plant water intakes. Of primary concern was the plant at Jubayl, which provides the city of Riyadh with 80 per cent of its water. Desalinization, industry and power plant intakes were protected by booms and skimming operations. Sensitive natural areas were also boomed to prevent oiling. Twenty-five miles of boom and 21 skimmers were deployed in the Gulf. Recovery operations using skimmers, vacuum trucks and booms provided by ARAMCO recovered 1,400,000 barrels of oil from the gulf by April. Oil that collected in coastal depressions was boomed off and skimmed out. Earthen berms were built out from the shoreline to catch oil for skimming. Trenches were dug to collect oil brought in on high tides. Other Special Interest Issues A bird rehabilitation center was set up at Al Jubayl and staffed by Saudi volunteers and Coalition armed forces personnel. An estimated 20,000 birds died from oiling, among them the Socotra Cormorant, which is an endangered species, and the Great Cormorant. Thousands of dead crabs were found in the salt marshes, mangroves, and beaches. Cleanup effectiveness and ecological impact research was conducted in salt marshes by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Crowley Maritime Corporation (CMC). Testing of various bioremediation agents and sampling programs for the benthic, pelagic, and planktonic communities of habitats such as mangroves, mudflats, sand beaches, seagrass beds, and coral reefs were initiated by the Research Institute of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM/RI). References This content has been excerped from: Oil Spill Case Histories 1967-1991: Summaries of Significant U.S. and International Spills |
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