OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2010. LUKOIL participated in an international exercise in the Caspian Sea aimed at the offshore emergency response and containment of possible oil spills in the northern Caspian Sea.

The purpose of one of the training stages was to test the emergency response operations at the Yuri Korchagin floating storage unit and related oil spill containment operations at the regional level and also the joint operations of the governmental structures and oil companies in accordance with the regional plan for oil and petroleum-product-spill prevention and containment in the Caspian Sea. The exercise allowed to assess the sufficiency and efficiency of the forces and means of oil spill containment (OSC), the technical capabilities of the relevant equipment located at the Yu. Korchagin field, and the preparation level of the emergency rescue teams.

The exercise was necessitated by increased volumes of oil prospecting, production and transportation in the northern Caspian Sea, implementation of the plan for oil and petroleum product spill prevention and containment at the Yu. Korchagin field, and also implementation of the provisions of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea signed in 2003.

Inspectors from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan observed the exercise.

The participants included: specialists from the EMERCOM of the Russian Federation, the RF State Marine Rescue Service, the RF Federal Service for the Supervision of Natural Resource Usage (Rosprirodnadzor), the State Marine Rescue and Coordination Center, the North-Caspian Department for Emergency and Subsea Engineering Operations, as well as of the Center for Emergency and Environmental Operations, the Inter-regional Division of the Federal Air Transportation Agency for Air Traffic and Aerospace Search and Rescue, the Southern Aviation Center for Search and Rescue, the “Risk Informatics” Research and Methodological Center", a number of other organizations and the EMERCOM of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Various types of vessels participated in the exercise, including a sea rescue tug, two supply vessels, two rescue and salvage ships, two boom boats, an air-cushioned vessel and several support motor boats. In order to contain and liquidate the simulated spill, all-weather oil-gathering devices and systems, floating booms, floating and onshore reservoirs for oily mixture and fuel-oil-contaminated waste were used.

In accordance with the RF legislation, no means of oil spill simulation were used in the course of the exercise.

The training results show that LUKOIL has enough potential and means to contain emergency oil spills which might occur in the course of operating the floating storage unit located at the Yu. Korchagin field in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea.