National Contingency Plan for Control and Combat of Major Oil Spills in Water

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I. INTRODUCTION In 1979, two oil tankers, The Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain, of more than 200000 tons each, collided, caught fire and spilled into the sea around 160000 tons of oil, incident considered, at the time, as one of the worst in the history of the international petroleum industry. The spill occurred just 30 miles from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and about 125 miles from the venezuelan coast line. Fortunately, the prevailing oceanographical and meteorological conditions in the area at the time of the incident, modified the course of the spill in an eastern direction, towards the center of the Atlantic Ocean, saving Venezuela and the Caribbean islands from an ecological catastrophe of unpredictable proportions. Although the incident did not affect Venezuela, it did generate concern in its oil industry, the national government and amongst persons and institutions in the country involved in environmental matters. In today's world, no coastal nation can consider itself totally immune to an oil spill. In order to minimize the damage that these can cause, response capacity is needed, in other words, a contingency plan against oil spills is required. To Venezuela it is of vital importance to have a contingency plan against oil spi11s. Eighty (80) percent of the total volume of oil produced is obtained from aquatic zones, such as the Lake of Maracaibo, where there are more than 13000 wells over this body of water, 450 flow stations to collect the oil, 9 loading terminals and over 16000 miles of underwater pipelines. To this, you have to add the very intense national and international maritime traffic in front of our costal line and the movement of merchant ships, which carry in their deposits residual fuel oil for their propulsion. It is a well known fact that spilled hydrocarbons can affect the environment, physically changing the characteristics of the waters. From a biological stand point, they endanger the biota present in thedifferent environments affected and from the socio economical stand point it also affects the urban sett 1ements near the coast, the recreationa1 and touristical areas as well as the fishing activities. In 1981, Petr61eos de Venezuela and its affiliates started the development of the National Contingency Plan for the Control and Combat of Major Oil Spills in Water, known as the NCP, which became operational in the middle of 1984. The National Contingency Plan was officially promulgated by the Government of Venezuela through a Presidential Decree on the 9th of July of 1986, ordering its elaboration and implantation as the guiding instrument for the execution of all the activities oriented towards prevent i on, cont ro1 and combat of the damages which could be caused by the oil spills in our maritime, fluvial and lacustrine zones. The Decree established the participation in the NCP of the Ministries of Energy and Mines, Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, Defense, Transport and Communications, Interior Relations, Foreign Affairs and gave Petr61eos de Venezuela the responsibility for the general coordination of the NCP.