Gulf firms to join BP oil spill effort

At least three Gulf-based oil spill companies are expected to join the cleaning up operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Manama-based Oil Spill Response has moved equipment and staff from its bases in London and Singapore to the Gulf of Mexico. This company has refrained from mobilising its resources from the Arabian Gulf, which is perceived to be vulnerable to spills.

"If the oil from the well continues to spill at this rate, we and other companies may be required to mobilise resources from the region," said Rob Self, Regional Manager, Oil Spill Response, which specialises in controlling oil spills.

Continuance of pilferage of oil from a well in the Gulf of Mexico can lead to more oil spill response companies from the region heading to the US coast to contribute to cleaning up operations there, industry insiders said.

Saudi Aramco has reportedly dispatched equipment and chemicals to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico. There are about five global oil spill response companies with bases in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states. National Oil Companies (NOCs) in the region have subsidiaries that specialise in controlling oil spills. Besides, there are several smaller companies across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the UAE and Manama in Bahrain that specialise in oil spill response.

There is a three-tier network dedicated to controlling oil spills in the region. "One is the set of relatively small operators that works within one country, the other works in the entire region and the third operates globally," Self said.

The number of oil spills in the GCC is remarkably low, even though it has the highest concentration of oil in the world, and a heavy traffic of ships laden with oil is constantly on the move through the Strait of Hormuz.

About 13.6 million barrels of oil are shipped daily from the region to Asia alone. Besides, there are shipments that head for Europe and the US. A good volume of refined crude products also moves daily into the GCC and Iran which still lacks refineries to meet its own needs.

"That makes it essential for companies like ours to constantly station a good number of our staff and equipment in the region," Self said.

The general manager of another oil spill response company told this newspaper that he has heard reports that some companies in the GCC are already mobilising their resources for the Gulf of Mexico.

Reports said the failure of British Petroleum's attempt to plug the leak in the Gulf of Mexico through its 'top kill' approach could mean that the flow of oil may not stop before August.

Several million gallons of oil have flowed into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20 when an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers, sinking it two days later.

If four million gallons or 95,000 barrels of oil are released into the gulf everyday, the disaster could lead to a total of 378 million gallons spilling into over the next 90 days. The scale of the crisis can be understood by the fact that about 520 million gallons of oil were released in the Arabian Gulf during the 1991 Gulf War. And 140 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the Ixtoc well in 1979-80.

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