INTERNATIONAL OIL INDUSTRY APPROACH TO RESPONSE PLANNING THE MEDITERRANEAN OIL INDUSTRY GROUP

摘要

Environmental issues have long been recognised as international problems that do not respect borders and cannot be handled at a country level without impacting on other nations and territories. The environmental issue of preventing and responding to oil spill incidents crosses international boundaries and affects all countries. Even countries that produce or consume minimal amounts of petroleum products may be at risk due to the transportation of large quantities of oil from producing countries to the consuming countries. The international oil industry, through the programme of the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association’s (IPIECA) is engaged in an effort aimed at enhancing the state of preparedness and response to marine oil spill incidents in coastal locations around the world. The international oil industry approach to response planning is based on the international conventions related to oil spill response and compensation, the Tiered Response concept and the importance of partnerships with all parties. This paper summarises the international oil industry approach to contingency planning, which has been developed by IPIECA over the past 10 years, with a special focus on activities carried out in the Mediterranean region.