Marine Planning Consultants (MPC) has been awarded a contract by Oil and Gas UK and the Oil Spill Response Forum to examine the specific requirements for monitoring during a major oil spill event on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS).
The project will also assess capability within industry and the wider scientific community to carry out environmental monitoring in response to such an event. The work will assist the Oil Spill Response Forum in the development and maintenance of an effective, robust and sustainable oil spill response capability for upstream operations on the UKCS, MPC reported.
The desk based project will include the production of a database and supporting report which will detail the roles and responsibilities of organisations including Government, stakeholders, industry, academia and NGOs in the event of an oil spill; the potential monitoring strategies (including timing and spatial extent) which would be required and the legislative requirements which support them; and an assessment of the current capabilities within the UKCS to meet these monitoring requirements.
Paul Salmon , Managing Director at MPC said: “This is an exciting opportunity for MPC to assist with helping our long established and important offshore oil industry to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach for monitoring in the event of an oil spill on the UK’s continental shelf. The information collected will assist in identifying how ready and how well we can respond to any incident so that relevant and timely information can be captured and disseminated and that the planning or execution of any spill response operation is as best informed as possible. We are pleased to be assisting Oil and Gas UK and the Oil Response Forum with this important project.”