Government develops plan to fight oil spills
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations has developed a draft National Plan of operational measures to combat oil spills, an official of the ministry said.
"The document has been developed, discussed several times and now it is in the stage of being presented to the Cabinet of Ministers," Tariel Huseynov, the head of the ministry's Main Department for Infrastructure Development, said at the seminar titled "Reducing emissions to the atmosphere, prevention of oil spills and cleaning technologies".
The seminar, which was held in Baku on October 29, was organized by the Norwegian Embassy in Azerbaijan, the Emergency Situations Ministry and INTSOK company.
Huseynov told the Baku-based Trend news agency that the Ministry of Emergency Situations is preparing a large-scale project for a full cleaning of the Baku Bay.
The Baku Bay Sustainable Development project is being developed by a number of companies, including the Dutch firm Royal Haskoning, under an order of the ministry. The company is engaged in building a new international trading port in the Alat settlement, 65 kilometers south of the capital Baku.
The project includes cleaning of both the bottom and the water around the Baku Bay.
However, most of the work will account for the cleaning of the bottom, Huseynov said.
According to him, preliminary studies have been conducted, and currently the project's feasibility study is being prepared.
The feasibility study will indicate the necessary level of cleaning, which will determine what technology is to be used, the capacities and timing of the works, he said.
Huseynov also said that currently the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which executes the project, is in consultations with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR, the State Maritime Administration and other government agencies.
The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation was adopted in 1990. Azerbaijan joined the convention in 2004.
According to the document, the countries which joined the convention should establish national bodies for conducting preventive measures against oil spills at sea.
Under the decree issued by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on April 4, 2010, the Ministry of Emergency Situations was designated as the national body combating oil spills in Azerbaijan.
On October 29-31 Baku is hosting three different seminars on combating oil spills, development of offshore technologies as well as technologies for drilling oil wells. The workshops are organized by Norway's embassy in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, SOCAR, Caspian Drilling Company and Statoil.
Over 20 Norwegian companies will hold presentations on various sectors of the oil and gas industry as part of the event.