Maryam Rasouli - Marine prevention of pollution Expert, Ports and Maritime Organization(PMO)

Oil spills are environmental disasters that often lead to negative and long-term impacts on the environment. From 1907 to 2014, more than 7 million tonnes of oil has been released to the environment from over 140 large spills. More recently the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (the BP oil spill). in 2010 claimed the largest record in the history of the petroleum industry. and released over 700 thousand tonnes of crude oil.This oil spill has caused over $5.5 billion lost to fishing and tourism industries. An oil spill is usually described as a release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment (especially marine areas) due to human activities or natural disasters. Some major spills include the Exxon Valdez incident, the Hebei Spirit spill, the Prestige spill, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The large-scale spills (N30 tonnes) account formerely 0.1% of incidence but make up almost 60% of the total amount of spillage. The world history witnessed a large number of oil spills; some of them had led to devastating impacts. In 1942, an alarming 484,200 tonnes of oil was reported releasing from torpedoed tankers in the eastern U.S. coastal area, equivalent to a weekly release of 20,000 tonnes of oil over 6 months. Oil spills and gas leaks can be reduced by understanding how accidents occur. Public confidence in the exploration and production of oil and gas in sensitive onshore and offshore areas can only be achieved through continued and consistent prudent environmental management.

Oil spills, Marine Environment, Risk Management, Health, Safety, Response