Frontier response - establishing an oil spill
response organisation in Greenland
Lonnie Bogø Wilms
Managing Director
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Greenland facts
Petroleum exploration in Greenland
Jurisdictions and approach
Establishment of Greenland Oil Spill Response
Services and equipment
Challenges – Frontier area in many ways
Training and testing equipment
Upgrading services and equipment
Lessons learned
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Independent territory within the Kingdom of
Denmark
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Worlds largest island (2,166,086km2)
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Most sparsely populated country in the world
(Population: 56,483)
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Arctic to subarctic climate
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The Greenland ice sheet covers approximately
80 % of the country
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Narrow mountainous coast
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Hardly no infrastracture
More info: www.visitgreenland.com
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Frontier area
Political hydrocarbon strategy
developped late 1990’s/early 2000
18 active exclusive licences for
exploration and exploitation of oil and
gas currently
Major “players” as operators: Chevron,
ConocoPhillips, Shell, ENI, Maersk,
Cairn Energy, Husky, Statoil
More info: www.bmp.gl
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Very few wells
drilled
◦ Latest in 2011
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Next wells to be
drilled: 20162017?
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Responsibility for response to pollution at sea
from oil and chemicals lies within 3 jurisdictions:
◦ Inside 3 nautical miles: Jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Nature, Environment and Justice
◦ Spills from hydrocarbon related activities: Jurisdiction of
the Mineral License and Safety Authority (MLSA),
regardless of whether the spill is within or outside 3 nm
of the Greenland coast.
◦ Outside 3 nautical miles: Jurisdiction of the Danish
Government, in practice, the Joint Arctic Command has
the authority to request suitable equipment and
personnel from the Danish contingency equipment
stockpile.
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Tiered response approach within
all 3 jurisdictions
◦ Conventional approach
◦ Leaves room for very wide
interpretation
◦ Tier 1 equipment stockpile in
Greenland is much larger than a Tier
1equipment stockpile in Europe
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Petroleum companies while
operating in Greenland has the
responsibility to ensure:
◦ Tier 1 offshore Greenland
◦ Tier 2 onshore Greenland
◦ Tier 3 to be at drilling location
within 52 hours max
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3 response options generally speaking
◦ Mechanical recovery
◦ In Situ Burning
◦ Chemical dispersant
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Mechanical recovery is the preferred response
method within all 3 jurisdictions
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ISB and chemical
dispersants are
however realistic
response options
◦ MLSA has Predevelopped
application forms
for ISB and use of
chemical dispersant
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MLSA Pre-developped
application forms to be
accompanied by a Net
Environmental Benefit
Analysis:
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Dispersants or in situ
burning will be approved,
if it is found that the
effects of dispersants are
less harmful to the
environment than if
mitigation was limited to
attempts at mechanical
recovery or no measures
at all
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Why a government owned company?
◦ No real oil spill response capacity in Greenland
prior
◦ Increasing offshore activities at the time (2012)
 Important to establish a rapid response in-country
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Greenland Oil Spill
Response was
established in 2012
and is owned by the
Government of
Greenland.
◦ Background: large
stockpile of oil spill
response equipment
donated by Cairn Energy
to Greenland in 20102011
Greenland Government
Board of Directors
Managing Director
Operations Manager
Outsourcing of
maintenance,
mobilisation and
accounting
Semi-volunteer
responders
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Greenland Oil Spill Response operates within
oil spill contingency, oil spill response and
other related business primarily within the
Mineral Resources area in Greenland.
◦ Hydrocarbon and mineral exploration activities that
take place offshore or involves offshore activities
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Greenland Parliament Act No. 4 of 4 June 2012
on Greenland Oil Spill Response A / S
◦ Share capital is held by the Government of Greenland
◦ The share capital consists of oil spill response assets
◦ Aim is to operate on a commercial basis
◦ Establishment of an oil spill response for the mineral
resources activities in Greenland
◦ Independent business
◦ Petroleum licensee shall take out membership with GOSR
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Mission
◦ Provide efficient resources to its members to
prepare for and respond to oil spills offshore
Greenland.
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Vision:
◦ Greenland Oil Spill Response will
exceed the needs and expectations of
its members and become the leading
oil response company north of 60th
parallel. To that effect we shall;
 Continuously improve the services that
we provide to our members,
 Actively participate in oil spill response
research and technology development for
cold and ice covered waters, in close
cooperation with the relevant authorities
and the industry in order to understand
and accommodate the challenges and
requirements that they face.
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Greenland Oil Spill Response offers membership for
petroleum and mineral companies operating in
Greenland as well as the general maritime industry in
Greenland
OSR training courses
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Greenland Oil Spill Response has a large
amount oil spill response equipment suitable
for oil spill response in Greenland.
◦ Same equipment supplied to Cairn Energy in 20102011 by OSRL (Tier 2 stockpile in a Greenlandic
West Coast setting)
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Oil Containment Booms
◦ Troil Boom AF750PU (In stock: 280 x 20m)
◦ Troil Boom GP750 (In stock: 112 x 25m)
◦ Troil Boom Beach (In stock: 268 x 10m)
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Skimmers
◦ DESMI RO-MOP OM140 (In stock: 28)
◦ Vikoma Mini Vac systems (In stock: 28)
◦ Vikoma Komara 20 (In stock: 28)
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Temporary containment systems
◦ Fastank 10m3 og 7,5m3 (In stock: 20+28)
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Chemical dispersants
◦ Dasis Slickgone NS (In stock: 40.000L)
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Environment and infrastructure
◦ Limited infrastructure
 Limited possibilities of mobilisation by
air
 Mobilisation most likely to happen
with local ships
◦ Relocating and splitting up the
stockpile
 Previously stored in Kangerlussuaq
 Relocated to Nuuk and Aasiaat –the
two most busy ports in Greenland
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New business/new market
◦ Getting into the market
 Explaining the need to build up an oil spill response organisation
when there are no planned drillings
 Cooperation with other stakeholders eg. authorities and maritime
industry
◦ Limited experience available
 Maintenance tender
 External help from independent consultants and the oil spill
response industry
 Finding the right operations manager
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Limited financial ressources available
Large exercises/testing of equipment not within
budget
Testing of equipment in connection with training
courses
◦ Extended IMO level 2 course in 2014 with 2 days of practical
exercises and deployment gave several benefits:
 Testing of equipment
 Training of local authorities – upgrading local and own ressources
 Networking and cooperating with authorities
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IMO level 2 course in 2014 a success
IMO level 3 course at the end of 2014 also a
success
A need for oil spill response training in the arctic
◦ Training programme April 2015 in cooperation with Blue
Petrel Consulting
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IMO level 2 (extended with practical exercises)
IMO level 3
Arctic Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Technique (SCAT)
On-land Oil Spill Response for First Responders and
Supervisors
More information: http://www.gosr.gl/training
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Semi-volunteer response organisation
◦ Hiring and training of semi-volunteer responders to
start in May-June
◦ 20+20 responders (Nuuk & Aasiaat)
◦ One year training programme adapted to Greenlandic
conditions and needs – but based on IMO level 2 training
◦ Semi-volunteers to be trained in Greenlandic/Danish by
GOSR’s Operations Manager
◦ Recruitment pool: fishermen, seafarers, fire fighters and
people with maritime/technical/response experience
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Semi-volunteer response
organisation is the way forward for
GOSR
◦ Local knowledge and drive to protect
local environment
◦ Faster response time
◦ Better services to customers
◦ Testing of euqipment in booth towns
◦ Network building and engagement with
local stakeholders
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Semi-volunteer response organisation: 20152016 Phase 1
◦ Phase 2 will depend on the industry’s needs and the
evaluation of Phase 1
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Equipment will be upgraded and stockpile
expanded with donations from the petroleum
licencees operating in Northeast Greenland
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Upgrading current equipment:
◦ Repacking and storage of equipment
 Minicontainers, skimmer cages and racks
◦ Replacing hoses and couplings
 From plastic to rubber and aluminium
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Expanding stockpile:
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Dispersant spray system for vessels of oppurtunity
Command and field equipment
Temporary storage
Portable incinerators
Fire resistant containment booms
Small heavy oil recovery systems
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Involve local community
Engage with the industry – they do want to share
their knowledge and experience
Plan to use the whole tool kit – do not rely on
only one response option
Pre-develop application forms in cooperation
with relevant authorites
Spread out your options for deployment of
equipment
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Thank you
Any ?’s
www.gosr.gl
e-mail: [email protected]
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