OREANDA-NEWS. June 29, 2012. A comprehensive joint practical emergency oil spill response drill was conducted at the Sukhoi Log River crossing of Caspian Pipeline Consortium-R (CPC) in Tbilissly District of Krasnodar Krai on June 21st.  Engaged in the drill were the resources of CPC and the Krasnodar Krai Office of RF Ministry of Emergencies including the units of the territorial subsystem of the state emergency prevention and response system as well as the municipal Civil Defense teams of Tbilissky District.  The drill involved 94 people, 44 vehicles and 112 items of the special equipment.  The purpose of the drill was to verify the emergency response alertness of both CPC and Ministry of Emergencies.

According to the drill scenario a certain volume of crude oil was discharged into the Sukhoi Log River as a result of an unauthorized tap.  Summoned for the emergency response were the resources of Caspian Pipeline Consortium, its Emergency Response Stations as well as the local units of the Center of Emergency Response and Ecological Operations.  The drill also helped improve coordination between CPC and the environmental agencies of the Krasnodar Krai.

The drill included extinguishing a simulated fire of the spilled crude oil, deploying booms on the river surface and installing the oil collection reservoirs on the riverside.  Once the simulated emergency oil spill was contained and cleaned the MChS divers inspected the crossing while CPC personnel reinstated the integrity of the pipeline and took the appropriate the sanitary-epidemiological actions.

Rick Spivey, the Consortium's General Manager, Health, Safety and Environmental, said that "today we are mastering the skills and using the equipment, which, I hope, will never come in handy in real life.  But now I am positive that CPC can deal with any threat".

The CPC pipeline system is one of the largest investment projects with foreign capital in the CIS. The length of the pipeline connecting oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the Marine Terminal in Novorossiysk is 1,511 km. CPC's Marine Terminal is equipped with Single Point Moorings that allow to load tankers safely at a significant distance offshore, including bad weather conditions.