On October 25, 2017, a full-scale oil spill response and shore protection drill took place at the CPC Marine Terminal in Yuzhnaya Ozereevka. The massive training exercise involved about 300 Marine Terminal and contractor personnel and 25 support vessels. The drill was observed by representatives of regulatory authorities and city administration.
In order to comprehensively check available resources and equipment, and also train interactions among CPC business units, emergency & rescue units, contractors and state agency experts, the Marine Terminal staff had developed a legend which envisaged the least probable but the most labor-intensive accident to respond to, viz. a guillotine rupture of a subsea pipeline during tanker loading at a single point mooring (SPM).
According to the legend, a mooring master found an oil spill around SPM-1 and reported it to a dispatcher in the main control center (MCC) of the pipeline system. The MCC dispatcher effected a simulated shutdown of the tanker loading and sent out a scout vessel to investigate the suspected spill site. Concurrently, it was checked how quickly oil spill response watercraft could be made ready to come out of the small boat shelter.
Eight J-shaped formations were organized on the basis of the reconnaissance, taking into account actual sea and weather conditions. The total length of floating booms deployed in the sea was 1.6 km. In addition, 4.7 kilometers of booms were prepared and partly deployed for shore protection.
After the simulated oil spill was contained, operations started to gather the crude oil using specialist oil-gathering systems. A water-oil mixture was gathered into floating tanks towed by a sea tug and small vessels.
In the second phase of the drill, its participants honed oil spill containment and cleanup actions on the shore. This training operation involved using manipulator crane trucks, shore and near-shore booms, different types of oil-gathering systems and other equipment.
The third phase of the drill was to check Marine terminal personnel skills to extinguish oil burning on water. This operation was successfully executed by means of sea tugs equipped with firefighting monitors.
An active part was played in the drill by the CPC environmental monitoring group. The group personnel established contact with representatives of a state ecological inspection. Samples were being taken in parallel and an under-plume air monitoring site was set up on the border of the closest residential area.
The drill received a positive feedback from the observers and regulatory authorities: all objectives and tasks were achieved – the simulated oil spill was quickly contained and the shore was reliably protected. It should be noted that in all the time it has been in operation, the CPC Marine Terminal has had no breaches of industrial and ecological safety standards, loading with no oil spill incidents.
CPC conducts at least 10 large-scale oil response and fire drills every year. Being part of its health, safety and environmental protection policy, they are aimed at ensuring readiness of CPC and its contractor resources and equipment for quick emergency response and clean-up in regions crossed by the route of the main oil pipeline.
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The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the energy sector in the CIS. The length of the Tengiz–Novorossiysk Pipeline is 1,511 km; it transports over two thirds of all Kazakhstan export crude, as well as crude from Russian oil fields, including the Caspian Region. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with three Single Point Moorings (SPM) that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, also amid poor weather conditions.
CPC Shareholders: Russian Federation (represented by Transneft – 24% and CPC Company – 7%) – 31%; Republic of Kazakhstan (represented by KazMunayGaz – 19% and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC – 1.75%) – 20.75%; Chevron Caspian Pipeline Consortium Company - 15%, LUKARCO B.V. - 12.5%, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company – 7.5%, Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures Limited – 7.5%, BG Overseas Holding Limited - 2%, Eni International N.A. N.V. - 2% and Oryx Caspian Pipeline LLC – 1.75%.