The Tunisian National Oil Company (ETAP) wishes to establish a credible and practical Tier 2 oil spill response coordination system in Tunisia in the form of Public Private Partnership "PPP".
To ensure all options past and present are considered, ETAP arranged to visit various Tier 2 facilities throughout the region in the UK, coordinated by MOIG.
As an ETAP seconded, the MOIG Director was invited by ETAP; from 22 to 24 February 2016; to accompany the ETAP delegation for the site visits in the United Kingdom to Oil Spill Response Limited-Southampton and Briggs Environmental Services-Aberdeen (BESL).
The main objectives of this visit were:
- To exchange information and knowledge on Oil Spill Preparedness and Response with industry Tier 2 experts
- To see closer the operations, planning, management, resources of personnel and equipment, infrastructures and architectural aspects.
The delegation were afforded escorted tours of the equipment warehouses of OSRL and BESL and the opportunity to observe various types of Oil Spill Response stockpiles and response packages such as : shoreline, offshore and fire booms, skimmers, fast and inflatable tanks, inland spill response packages, support boats, Tugs and stock in dispersants etc.
The delegation had also the opportunity to see the maintenance and training areas as well as the emergency operations centers.
During the communications and visits we were able observe the OSRL and BESL International response center models, giving the delegation the options to further support the successful development of the Tunisian Tier 2 coordination project and explore various ways to provide an appropriate level of technical assistance to ETAP for the project development.
The ETAP delegation would like to thank OSRL and BESL representatives for the warm welcome and hospitality, the high cooperation and the abundant information they have provided on the development of the Tunisian Tier 2 coordination System.
The MOIG Management Committee Members would like to thank M. Mark Kelly, Senior Operations Manager at NRC UK, MOIG member for coordinating and facilitating meeting with Briggs Environmental Services.