Olympic Hopefuls Keep Training

Richard Tatner and Peter Taylor delivered ‘Oil Spill First Responder’, ‘Oil Spill On-Scene Commander’ and ‘Management of Oil Spill Incidents’ Courses in Doha, Qatar. This was part of our on-going programme for Qatar Petroleum, through which over 150 persons have now been trained.

The courses followed the syllabus of the International Maritime Organization’s model training courses, accepted as the international standard for response training.

All three courses were very well received and we were again impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the participants. Qatar Petroleum is the official State authority under the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC Convention), which entered into force in Qatar on 8 August 2007. Course participants included representatives from Qatar Petroleum, their Joint Venture partners, the Navy and Coastguard, as a practical demonstration of the OPRC cooperative ethos.

The training took place in the capital city, Doha, which is rapidly developing as a thriving commercial and visitor centre in the region. It is an applicant city for the 2016 Olympic Games. We have suggested that boom deployment is proposed as an Olympic sport, as we believe Qatar will be well placed to finish in the medals!