A new Oil Spill Response (OSRL) facility, opened on 13 March 2014 in Brazil, houses the organisation’s fourth state of the art subsea well capping system. Similar equipment for responding to offshore drilling rig incidents is staged at OSRL facilities in Singapore, Norway and South Africa. How does this help wildlife?
It is only necessary to think back to the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the 2009 Montara oil spill off Australia’s coast to understand the potential importance of this new facility. In both drilling rig blowout incidents, oil continued to be released for months after the initial damage. While impacts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on wildlife are still being assessed, it is known that a wide variety of marine species, including birds, sea turtles and dolphins were affected.
The ability to cap an offshore rig quickly and efficiently reduces the amount of oil spilled. The less oil spilled, the less impact on wildlife. In addition to the well-capping equipment, ORSL stores oiled wildlife response equipment at its facilities, working closely with Sea Alarm and other oiled wildlife response organisations to add to local capacity for response. These organisations welcome the new OSRL base in Brazil.