On 17th February, OSRL/EARL was informed by a Member in Angola, that a black slick was sighted; 3,500m³ of crude oil was spilled offshore of Angola. The Southampton base pro-actively recalled the Duty Response Team with the WACAF and Hercules aircraft on standby. Pre-planning activities such as trajectory modelling, flight clearance and commercial flights to the spill site were also carried out.

As part of the OSRL/EARL safety protocol the team was briefed on health and safety aspects such as observing general safety rules on food and water consumption, malaria medication and cholera vaccination. OSRL/EARL was activated by the Member on the same evening. The aircraft carrying the ADDS Pack loaded with dispersant, shoreline clean up equipment and a response team was dispatched to Luanda to assist in on site technical advice, aerial dispersant operations and offshore containment and recovery operations.

Halfway through the response effort, the Southampton base opened a second Operations Room to handle another spill from a Member’s offshore production unit in Nigeria.

For more information, please contact Mark Chan at markchan@osrlearl.com