RESPONSE OPERATIONS TO THE AEGEAN SEA ACCIDENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Greek flag ship Aegean Sea loaded with 79,094 tons of Brent blend, the light crude oil from the North Sea fields, coming from Sullom Voe terminal in the Shetland Islands, stranded at 4:50 a. m., December 3, 1992, when she was approaching the port of La Coruna on the northwest coast of Spain. The accident was followed by explosion, fire, and an oil spill—which precipitated a difficult, complex, and expensive response operation to control and mitigate the effects of oil pollution. Weather conditions did not allow the containment and recovery of oil at sea; therefore the response operations concentrated mainly on protecting sensitive areas, collecting oil in estuaries and harbors, shoreline cleanup, and recovery of crude oil and bunker remaining onboard the damaged ship. The enormous pressure from the media and public opinion groups, the number of experts and observers wanting to come on scene, and the persistence of the commercial firms offering all kinds of equipment and products, in particular chemical dispersants and bioremediation techniques further complicated the situation. Compensation claims for expenses and damage caused by the oil spill is another important chapter of this incident. Intense claims activity went on during the operations and an agreement was signed in respect to claims handling. This paper describes the above-mentioned operations and comments on other aspects of the crisis management.