Black Sea Oil Dispersant Workshop In Istanbul

Peter Taylor helped organize and support a 2-day oil spill dispersant workshop for the Black Sea region whilst acting in his role as OSPRI Manager. The workshop was held in Istanbul, Turkey and was carried out within the framework of the Black Sea Commission (BSC) with participation from all Black Sea countries.

Presenters during the workshop included Peter Taylor, Alun Lewis (Oil Spill Consultant), Jim Clark (ExxonMobil), Gennady Semanov (CNIIMF in Russia) and Oksana Tarasova (BSC). In all, they represented a wide range of expertise concerning dispersants and the Black Sea environment and were able to give detailed information about the use of dispersants. Theoretical spill scenarios were employed to discuss situations where dispersants might be used to provide net environmental benefit during Black Sea oil spill incidents.

The workshop provided an opportunity to address many questions about dispersants and also furnished information to help the governments to refine or develop their national dispersant-use policies. A Companion CD containing comprehensive reference material was given to each participant.

Prior to the workshop, Peter attended a BSC Advisory Group meeting on behalf of OSPRI, where there was extensive discussion about a major oil spill exercise planned for the region in 2007. It is hoped that OSPRI will be able to play a significant supporting role during this exercise.