What information do
I need to provide for you to undertake oil spill modelling?
A modelling request form can be provided by
Oil Spill Response which details all the information required
to run an oil spill model. Please contact techsol@oilspillresponse.com
for further details.
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Why can't we change
the terms and conditions in the membership agreements?
We sincerely regret that these terms and conditions
cannot be changed to suit every member. We are a cooperative with all members
treated equally. These terms and conditions were deliberated upon for a long
time among all the Participants who are also the Shareholders of Oil
Spill Response. Each Shareholder's legal advisors had many good reasons,
in the interest of their company to rewrite some of the terms and conditions.
However, being Shareholders of Oil Spill Response at the same
time also made them realise that their ownership role in Oil Spill Response
requires them to accept these terms. In order for Oil Spill Response,
as an oil industry organisation, to make available quality oil spill response
and preparedness services at an affordable cost, compromises must be made.
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Is Membership of any
value if oil spill risks are low or limited to Tier 1 and Tier 2 spills?
In today's business, while emphasis is often
being placed on the bottom line marker, more and more companies are also realising
the importance of ensuring sustainability within the environment they operate
in. Many believe in and are committed to preparedness i.e. equipping their
staff with the knowledge and resources in preventing and mitigating the damages
caused by oil spills.
Membership allows a company to officially quote Oil Spill Response
as their available resources in contingency plans. In the event of any incident
or potential incident, our Duty Managers are just a call away to advise you
at any time of the day. The value comes in the form of having your own "virtual"
oil spill response department which you have "set up" for yourself without
the equipment maintenance commitment nor the need for high capital investment.
The added value also comes in the form of on site techincal advisory service
at no cost for the initial 48 hours. In the event that a response operation
is initiated, terms and conditions, including rates, will revert to the Participant
or Associate Agreement.
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Can Associate Membership
apply across different countries?
A number of companies started as Associate
Members covering either a single or a small number
of specified locations often in one particular region of the world. As their
operations expand, they can upgrade their Associate Membership to cover multiple
sites located in different countries under the same membership agreement.
However, there will come a time where it will be more cost effective to consider
Participant Membership which entitles a Member to global coverage for
all operations.
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Why or when should
I consider upgrading from Associate Membership to Participant Membership?
Participant Membership provides coverage any
where / any time to the member and covers all their operations whether upstream,
downstream or during transportation. In addition, Participant Membership allows
a member to call out Oil Spill Response on behalf of third parties,
thereby, providing even more flexibility in their coverage. Participant Membership
can be very cost effective when shared across the company.
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Under what circumstances
can we pay in US$?
Prior to the forming of an Alliance in year
2000, both OSRL and EARL served different geographical markets. With the Alliance
and the recent merger, our customers now enjoy the combined expertise and
resources and also the convenience of utilising services from UK, Singapore
or even the Bahrain base depending on proximity as they expand their businesses
internationally. The applicable currency is very much determined by the regions
in which the operations are based. For example, customers with an initial
contract with Oil Spill Response having operations in Europe
will continue to be invoiced in sterling pounds while those whose majority
of operations in the Asia Pacific region will be invoiced in US dollars.
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Why are the UK membership
subscription fees subject to VAT?
As stated by HM Customs and Excise, Oil
Spill Response's annual subscriptions are considered a supply of services
made where the supplier belongs, that is the UK and therefore the supply will
be subject to Value Added Tax (VAT). The law on services supplied where the
supplier belongs is in the VAT act, Section 7 (10).
For non UK based companies, VAT is fully recoverable but must be done within
six months. Oil Spill Response, UK will provide documentation to aid the process of
reclaiming VAT and any further information can be found on www.hmrc.gov.uk.
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At which stage of an
oil spill incident should I contact Oil Spill Response? At which
point of the contact will the charges be calculated?
A great advantage of membership is the peace
of mind, knowing that you can call Oil Spill Response anytime,
no matter the size of the spill, even if the spill becomes manageable and
requires no activation from us.
Oil Spill Response practises pro-active activation whereby a
judgement call will be made upon discussion with the member on the likelihood
of requiring a response. If it is likely that an activation is necessary,
Oil Spill Response will start recalling its Spill Response
Specialists to the base to make logistic arrangements and to commence the
loading of equipment so as to minimise any delay in reaching the spill site.
A number of companies have started their membership of Oil Spill Response
as an Associate Member covering either a single or a small number of specified
locations often in one particular region of the world. As their operations
grow, they can upgrade their Associate Membership to cover multiple sites
located in different countries under the same membership agreement. However,
there will come a time where it will be more cost effective to consider Participant
Membership which entitles a member to global coverage for all operations.
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If I have a spill in
the Middle East, do I call Southampton or Singapore? How do I activate resources
at the Bahrain base?
You can either call our UK office or the Singapore
office to activate resources at our Bahrain base.
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Is it expensive to
call out Oil Spill Response?
This will very much depend on the amount of
personnel and equipment resources that are called upon as well as the length
of time involved. The rates for personnel and equipment hire are stated in
the scale of fees in the yearbook. Oil Spill Response will always give an estimate
in advance
of the costs likely to be incurred during a spill response as well as daily
updates of actual costs incurred.
However,
it is worth remembering that an oil spill incident does not have to be a ‘Tier
3’ to ask Oil Spill Response for assistance. In fact, in
the majority of incidents our involvement is mainly
to provide advice on the appropriate response strategies or technical assistance
to the Member’s own response team at the spill site. We are very happy
to assist no matter what the scale of the incident is.
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If I have Associate
Membership for one site and I have an emergency at another site, can I call
out Oil Spill Response? What does guaranteed response mean?
Associate Membership is designed to provide
a cost effective solution for companies with a limited number of operations
with oil spill risk, for example, an FPSO or an exploration well. The Associate
Member must name the site or sites to be coveredand the annual production.
This information provides the basis for the annual fee.
For
the named site, the Member is guaranteed a response from Oil Spill Response
under the same terms and conditions as a Participant. However, coverage is
strictly limited to those locations. It would not be fair to global Members,
who pay a higher annual fee, to provide a guaranteed response in all circumstances
to an Associate Member. The Associate
Member can still request assistance from Oil Spill Response but
this would be considered in the same manner as any third party request for
assistance, namely not guaranteed and subject to Directors’ approval.
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Why is there a special
form of membership for shipping?
Recognising the growing interest in Membership
by the tanker industry, Oil Spill Response established a new
form of Associate Membership for shipping in 2005. This category is specially
designed to meet the needs of tanker owners and operators with its own criteria
for establishing the potential
risks and membership pricing. Pricing is based firstly on geographical coverage,
Europe, Singapore or internationally and then a unit fee is applicable to
each vessel covered (up to a maximum of 25 vessels). The fees are agreed in
advance on the basis of the records of the company for the previous year.
At
the end of the year, the Shipping Member makes a new declaration of activities
and the fee is adjusted accordingly. The intention is to provide tanker owners
and operators maximum flexibility in covering their operations worldwide.
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My company has very
low production - I think the lowest band is still expensive, can you explain?
Oil Spill Response is wholly
owned by more than thirty of the most responsible and evironmentally committed
oil and energy companies to provide resources to enhance global preparedness
and response. The Shareholders under the Service Level Agreement (SLA) agree
the number and nature of the resources held by Oil Spill Response,
for instance, maintaining a Hercules aircraft in both Singapore and Southampton.
The annual membership fees plus income from preparedness services must balance
out the costs of funding the SLA. These fees are approved by Shareholders
every year.
Oil
Spill Response offers different categories of membership, each with
its own pricing structure in order to offer as many options as possible to
existing and prospective Members. Although we understand that some companies
may feel the fees are too high for their circumstances, we have tried to achieve
a reasonable balance across the different categories and ensure parity among
all Members.
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Is there a charge
to contact the Oil Spill Response Duty Manager when I am having
an exercise?
There is no charge to contact the Oil
Spill Response Duty Manager when you are having a table top exercise.
Indeed, we welcome such calls from members and are very happy to provide likely
response times and logistic arrangements. Exercises are a great way to test
out contingency plans and ensure that all the appropriate information on resources
and contacts are up to date.
Oil Spill Response is also pleased to be further involved in
member's exercises. This may range from developing scenarios and roles for
the exercise to actual deployment of personnel and resources. The cost of
this will depend on the nature and extent of the involvement.
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If I have tier 1
and tier 2 coverage, why do I need tier 3 (and especially if it is very far
away)?
The oil industry strongly promotes the tiered
response concept as the most efficient and effective way to manage resources
for a major oil spill. Tier 1 refers to having equipment on site to deal with
minor operational spills while Tier 2 means having access to in-country resources,
both personnel and equipment, that are shared under a form of mutual aid agreement
by the different companies working there and which provides for access to
the resources in an emergency.
Tier
3 is designed to provide additional expertise and resources in the event of
a major spill, either in terms of volume or complexity, which cannot be managed
with available Tier 1 and Tier 2 resources. It is essential that any organisation
with an oil spill risk has appropriate coverage at each tier in order to be
able to effectively respond to an oil spill.
Do
you have a question? Please contact us.
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