Annex 1 Proforma for reporting of oil spills from
platforms or other installations at sea which should be
fully completed 
Annex
2
Contacts for reporting oil spills. Regulation 5(2) of The Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co -operation Convention) Regulations 1998 states that "An individual having charge of an offshore installation, or an oil handling facility which is a pipe-line, who observes or otherwise becomes aware of any event involving discharge of oil at sea from another installation or a ship shall without delay report it to HM Coastguard".
Additionally, Regulation 4(1)(c) requires every operator of an offshore installation to which these Regulations apply, shall have an oil pollution emergency plan in accordance with this regulation.
Model Clause 23(8) of Schedule 4 of the Petroleum (Production) (Seaward Areas) Regulations 1988 No 1213 provides that The Licensee shall give notice to the Minister of any event causing escape or waste of petroleum, ... and shall, forthwith after the occurrence of any event causing escape of petroleum into the sea, give notice of the event to the Chief Inspector of Her Majesty's Coastguard.
Licences issued in, or prior to, 1975 are subject to the Model Clauses in the Petroleum and Submarine Pipelines Act, Schedule 2 or 3.
All escapes of petroleum into the sea from an offshore installation must be reported as soon as possible to: -
a) the nearest Coastguard station and
b) the Department of Trade & Industry.
(The information required is summarised in the proforma of Annex 1 and the contact points are given in Annex 2.)
(i) Where the spill is, or seems as though it may become, extensive in size (e.g. a blow -out, a fractured pipe or a damaged storage facility) there should be the earliest possible consultation with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Other interested bodies including the appropriate Fisheries Department, the appropriate Nature Conservation Agency and the local authority of any coastal area threatened should also be consulted. The consultation should take place through the channels established within the operator's contingency plan. Arrangements should be made to monitor the movement, spreading and emulsification of the oil so that a proper assessment can be made of whether and to what extent it is threatening the coast, fisheries, seabirds or other wildlife and of the action necessary to protect the threatened interest.
(ii) The location of any oil remaining on the sea surface should be surveyed from the air as soon as possible after the incident, and at least twice per day until the clean -up operation is completed. The survey results should be reported to the Department of Trade and Industry and the Coastguard.
(iii) These requirements apply to the great majority of UK Offshore Installations. In certain cases, however, because of the characteristics of the oil or the geographical location of an installation, it may be necessary to issue different and specific advice to the appropriate operator.
(iv) Although these guidelines refer specifically to spills at drilling rigs, production facilities, single buoy moorings and offshore storage facilities, they also generally apply to spills from offshore pipelines.
(v) Such spills from offshore pipelines are also reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) as advised on Health and Safety Executive Operations Notice 30 (previously ON 29).
(i) In general, when a spill occurs at an offshore installation (including a pipeline) it: a) should not automatically be treated with dispersants but b) should be reported as at paragraph 2, and the slick should be tracked
(ii) For many spills the best option is to leave the oil to disperse or degrade naturally rather than treat the oil. The use of dispersants should only be considered if the potential consequences of allowing the oil to disperse naturally are unacceptable, and other options such as mechanical recovery of the oil are inappropriate.
(iii) Operators must observe the following guidelines on when to use dispersants in the event of an oil spill from an offshore installation. Any special conditions attached to a particular licence or a standing approval to use dispersants should also be adhered to.
(iv) The Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 Part II requires a licence to be issued for the deposit of any substance or article in the sea, but also enables exemptions from this requirement to be made. Such exemptions are currently contained in the Deposits in the Sea (Exemptions) Order 1985 and (for Northern Ireland) the Deposits in the Sea (Exemptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1995. Under these Orders, a licence is not required for the deposit of a substance (e.g. a dispersant or loose absorbent product) for the purpose of treating oil on the surface of the sea, provided:
a) the product used is currently approved by the Licensing Authority (MAFF - in English and Welsh waters, SERAD - in Scottish waters and Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) of DoE (NI) for Northern Ireland waters);
b) it is used in accordance with the conditions of that approval; and
c) the approval of the Licensing Authority is obtained prior to any use of the product in an area of sea which is less than 20 metres deep or within 1 nautical mile of any such area (n.b. this includes the shoreline and creeks etc. up to mean high water springs).
(v) Notwithstanding subparagraph c) above, it is the policy of the Licensing Authorities that they should be consulted in advance on all proposals to use oil dispersants except in circumstances where a spill poses an immediate threat to human health or the safety of an installation.
(i) In compliance with international agreement, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) has issued instructions to Captains of all Service and Civilian Ships and Aircraft to report immediately the matters indicated below:-
a) Any shipping casualty which is likely to result in the spillage of oil or other harmful substances into the sea.
b) Any ship observed discharging oil or other harmful substances into the sea.
c) Any spillage of oil or other harmful substances sighted at sea.
(ii) Any such incident which comes to the notice of a licensee should be reported to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as speedily as possible using the guidance given in the proforma of Annex 1.
(i) The relevant NCAs (Joint Nature Conservation Committee, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales) should be informed of all oil spills arising from exploration or production activities in the UK sectors of the Continental Shelf, as agreed in the Oil Spill Contingency Plan.
(ii) Provision should be made by operators to carry out ornithological or occasionally other surveys as soon as practicable in the event of a large-scale incident, if so requested by the relevant NCA. At certain times of year such surveys might well be accomplished by placing observers aboard vessels visiting the area. At other times it might be necessary to accommodate an observer on board air or surface craft used for surveillance or even to arrange special flights or the use of high-speed vessels for this purpose.
(iii) At present the only reliable means at present of establishing whether there are large concentrations of seabirds in the vicinity of an oil slick at sea is by direct observation. Because of the inconspicuous coloration of those species most at risk, such observations can only be effectively carried out by an experienced observer.
Annex 1 Proforma for reporting of oil spills from
platforms or other installations at sea which should be
fully completed Annex
2
Contacts for reporting oil spills. Any queries concerning this Notice should be sent to the address below.
Department of Trade & Industry
Oil and Gas Office
Atholl House
86-88 Guild Street
Aberdeen AB11 6AR
Tel: 01224 254045
Fax: 01224 254100If you have difficulty downloading or viewing documents in formats other than HTML, please refer to our help page for assistance.
Contacts for reporting oil spills
Notify by telephone immediately and confirm by fax/telex.
Aberdeen MRCC
Tel: 01224 592334
Fax: 01224 575920Falmouth MRCC
Tel: 01326 317575
Fax: 01326 318342Clyde MRCC
Tel: 01475 729988
Fax: 01475 786955Swansea MRCC
Tel: 01792 366534
Fax: 01792 369005Dover MRCC
Tel: 01304 210008
Fax: 01304 210302Yarmouth MRCC
Tel: 01493 851338
Fax: 01493 852307
Telephone Numbers/Office Hours:
Outwith Office Hours: If b) and/or c) above apply please contact the DTI's London Duty Officer on (see below).
Address:
Department of Trade & Industry
Oil and Gas Office
Atholl House
86-88 Guild Street
Aberdeen AB11 6AR
Where the oil spill is only one aspect of an oil emergency, or incident with wider implications, then During normal working hours you should notify your DTI field team contact as follows:
| Jen Brzozowska | 020 7215 5138 | Exploration and appraisal wells - all areas |
| Geoff Swann | 020 7215 5062 | Onshore fields and wells |
| Andy Carr | 01224 254 071 | Northern North Sea (Quads 2, 3, 9, 204, 206, 210, 211) |
| Mervyn Grist | 01224 254067 | Central North sea fields (part only) |
| Helen Hichens | 020 7215 5073 | Irish Sea, Southern North sea, Central North Sea (part only) |
Outside normal working hours, or if you cannot contact the above,you should call the DTI Duty officer in London who will arrange for an on - call officer to call you back for further information.
DTI duty officer
Tel: 020 7215 3234/3505
Mobile: 07747 898537
Pager: 087 0055 5500 no. DTI 672
Fax: 020 7215 3501
[See also HSE Operations Notice 1]
Four statutory agencies are responsible for nature conservation in the waters of Great Britain. These are:
(a) Joint Nature Conservation Committee,
(b) English Nature,
(c) Scottish Natural Heritage
(d) Countryside Council for Wales.
The main contact point for all the above organisations is:
Mark Tasker
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Dunnet House,
7 Thistle Place
Aberdeen AB10 1UZTel: 01224 655701
Fax: 01224 621488
Pager: 01893 776833
E -mail: Mark.Tasker@jncc.gov.ukFax: all spills should be reported by fax.
Telephone or page: If spill exceeds 1 tonne in blocks wholly or partly within 25 miles of the coast or in environmentally sensitive areas.
Telephone or page: If spill exceeds 25 tonnes in any other area.
The oil spill contingency plan should also include contacts (names, telephone and fax numbers) for the appropriate Nature Conservation Agency (b), (c) or (d). A current list of contact points is available from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee at the above address.
You will need to contact MAFF / SERAD if:
You need not contact MAFF / SERAD about other spills as they are automatically sent Coastguard Pollution reports for relevant waters and thus should receive information on the spill from that source.
MAFF Contacts - Office Hours (Order of Contact):
Rural and Marine Environment
Division
Outside Office Hours:
Outside office hours, when there is no reply on the above numbers, callers should attempt to call a Sea Fisheries Inspectorate (SFI) Duty Officer on 07770 977825.
If this is not possible, the MAFF Duty Room on 020 7270 8960 should be able to contact a member of RME or the SFI by telephone or pager and ask them to return the call.
Fax Numbers:
MAFF Duty Room 020 7270 8125
Rural and
Marine Environment Division 020 7238 5881
Fisheries Operations Room 020 7238
5814
Telex Numbers:
MAFF Duty Room 889351
Mafwpl G 21271
Mafnhl G
Fisheries
Operations Room 21274 Fishln G
If action is required by MAFF, a telephone call must be made in addition to any message sent by Fax or Telex as these machines are not continuously monitored.
SERAD Contacts - Office Hours (Order of Contact)
1. Bruce Stewart 0131 244 6233 (Office)
2. Diane McLafferty 0131 244 6232 (Office)
3. Lynn Taylor 0131 244 6234 (Office)
Staff from MEWB will inform colleagues at FRS Marine Laboratory or Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency as appropriate.
Outside Office Hours:
Outside office hours please contact 0131 556 8400 and ask to be put in touch with the Emergency Liaison Officer for Fisheries.
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| Title
| Table of Contents
Appendix 1 | Appendix 2 | Appendix 3 | Appendix 4 | Appendix
5 | Appendix 6 | Appendix 7 | Appendix 8 | Appendix 9
Appendix 10 | Appendix 11 | Appendix 12 |
Appendix 13 | Appendix 14 | Appendix 15 |
Appendix 16 | Appendix
17
Index Map | Plate 1 |
Plate 2W | Plate 2E | Plate 3W | Plate 3E | Plate
4W | Plate 4E |
Plate 5 | Plate 6
Plate 7 | Plate
8W | Plate 8E | Plate 9W | Plate 9E | Plate 10W | Plate
10E | Plate 11 | Plate 12 | Legend