Recent Hydrocarbon Discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: Can Industry Spur Innovation and Improvements in Civil Protection?

Abstract

Oil spills in remote offshore regions are of difficult management due to their relative distance to the shore, where civil protection teams and clean-up equipment are located. In addition, a strong influence of seasonal oceanographic and weather conditions is usually recorded in offshore oil spills. Comprising one of the busiest shipping corridors in the world, weather and sea current patterns in the Eastern Mediterranean can vary significantly from summer to winter, and during storms, at times hindering mitigation procedures from civil protection authorities. This talk presents the results of 104 new oil spill simulations, bathymetric analyses and shoreline susceptibility maps for the region spanning the Mediterranean coasts of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. The aim was to understand oil spill movement and scattering in offshore regions where exploration drilling has been equated so that the best practices are suggested to civil protection authorities in the Eastern Mediterranean (and other confined seas) to control, and clean, remote oil spills, either maritime or platform related. This work resulted from European and Industry projects in which hydrocarbon exploration and civil protection authorities worked together to implement new methodologies for oil spill treatment. We will show that the use of dispersants is appropriate in accidents releasing large quantities of oil south of Cyprus. The models suggest that only ∼48% of oil spilt is bound to evaporate in the first 20 days, resulting in the spreading of 52% volume of oil. Clear advantages in using oil dispersants in the few hours after the spill include: a) the larger area dispersants potentially treat when combined with mechanical methods; b) limited availability of mechanical equipment and limitations to their use in rough seas, c) the speed in which dispersants can be deployed by aerial means when compared with mechanical equipment. Dispersants have also the advantage of being potentially deployed near the shore, usually >3 nm and at water depths >10 m. In summary Industry, academia and civil protection authorities have established close ties in Cyprus and Greece, using new data to develop new protocols for the treatment and monitoring of oil spills. We expect further improvements in the way marine pollution events are mitigated in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, with Industry becoming a key collaborator in future initiatives.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90259 ©2016 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 19-22, 2016