Impact of Oil and Gas

1

Impacts of Oil and Gas: Mitigating Measures And Disater

Preparedness

1.0 MITIGATION MEASURES:

1.1 OVERVIEW OF BUNCEFIELD

Buncefield oil and transfer depot experienced some

explosions/fire outburst on the 11th of December 2005 which

involved engulf of fire on 23 fuel storage massive tanks in Hamel

Hempstead and kept burning for 5days. The rendering of 43 persons

injured and 2000 people evacuated from their homes, shows how

close Buncefield was located to residential areas ( Buncefeild

Report 2006 ).

Public and private sector organizations like municipalities in

various capacities/government in various hierarchies, oil

installation/pipeline operators in the UK should consider

mitigation measures/recommendations as a unified ability to bring

to aberrance updated goals of the environment and its factors.

1.2 WHAT IS MITIGATION: Coppola (2011) defined mitigation as any

continuous attempt embarked upon to decrease a hazard risk

through the decrease of the possibility and/or the effect factor

of that hazards risk. He further elaborated on the fact that each

hazard comes with its own effects and therefore managers approach

them in diverse ways. To avoid accidents like Buncefield from

reoccurring, these mitigation measures should be considered.

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1. COMBINE MITIGATION METHOD: What type of Mitigation should be

taken? Encompassing the various departments of the UK, this

method should be measured. There are primarily two types of

mitigation namely structural and nonstructural mitigations.

Irrespective of what kind of disaster one is militating

against, both types of mitigation should be fully

implemented. This is because under the various types of

mitigations, certain policies are unavoidable even if the

mitigations are different. It is therefore an opinion to

reckon with that both measures should be intricately

filtered to sooth mitigation measures generally.

Table 1 Combined Mitigation Method ( Adapted from Coppola 2011)

STRUCTURAL NONSTRUCTURAL

Resistant Construction Regulatory MethodsBuilding Codes andRegulatory Measures

Community Awareness andeducation Programs

Relocation Non-Structural PhysicalModifications

Structural Modification Environmental ControlConstruction ofCommunity SheltersConstruction ofBarriers, Defection, orRetention SystemsDetection Systems

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Physical Modifications Behavioral ModificationTreatment SystemsRedundancy in Life’sSafety Infrastructure

2. FIRE PREVENTION MITIGATION MEASURES: Initiatives that cut

across just fire services should be considered paramount.

The teaching by theory and learning by instructions should

be improved upon by passing the general public through a

practical learning process so as to keep abreast everyone,

how to fight such accidents if it occurs. Such was the

initiative of the government of India which tends to be

working in the region and should be recommended in the

United Kingdom. (South Asia Disaster Management Center,

n.d.)

3. UPGRADE TO EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: This will help to an

extent to always improve upon the technologies inherent in

the organization. Uphold steadfastly the understanding and

evaluation of emerging technologies for the management and

mitigation of explosions. They may be positive/negative

impacts (Gas barriers - thwarting gas escape, but may also

obstruct aeration) whilst others are at the early stage of

development (Water-mist containment, use of inert water

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retainers) with exceptional issues on price and expediency

(OSD , n.d.).

4. INTEGRATION OF A FRAMEWORK TO MANAGE STRATEGIC DISASTER:

Faulkner, (2001) argued that in mitigation frame work

inclusive of events directed towards one stage to the other

is considered. Events such as

a. Pre- event

b. Prodromal

c. Emergency

d. Intermediate

e. Long term (Recovery)

f. Resolution: This event forms a typology of Framework to

manage disaster.

5. STAPLEE: Coppola (2011) further butressed the fact that,

different environments needs various approach. These

approaches he coined an acronym called STAPLEE- which are

elaborated as Social, Technical, Administrative, Political,

Legal, Economic and Environmental approaches. See full

details in the Appendix 1.

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DISASTER PREPAREDNESS:

UNDERSTANDING PREPAREDNESS:

Weick (1993) argued that there should be a spontaneous response

by people and Organizations whenever there is an abrupt and

disastrous emergency. Turoff et al.(2004) further argued that

preparedness of an organization is not always prompt, even to the

organization itself or those in charge of policies, let alone the

preparedness of the general public. Lindell, Perry, and

Tierney(2004.) agreed that “the Objective of Disaster

Preparedness is the ability of response by community units when a

disaster occurs”. The primary target of an Emergeny Plan, should

be for household, business and government agencies to develop

appropraite strategies for response when disaster comes . It is

therefore relatively implifying, following the various arguements

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and affirmations, that the term preparedness in this context

implies the readiness of a community, its leaders and the general

public to stand the force to be exerted on them before, during

and after any form of Disaster, irrespective of the typology.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS MEASURES (DPM)

In order to prepare for a future possible disaster, there are

basic steps that should be taken. DPM’s are divided according to

recipents. These recipents are the Government and the Public in

General. There should be a role of Government Preparedness and

Public Preparedness (Coppola, 2011).

GOVERNMENT PREPAREDNESS (GP)

The GP is made up of the following

1. Planning

2. Exercising

3. Training

4. Equipment

5. Statutory Authority

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PUBLIC PREPARENESS (PP):

This should be a special preparedness where sensitive actions to

mandate ordinary individuals to help themselves, wives, children,

strangers etc . For effective produce, it must exceed just

awareness of the hazard but also prepare the public to be

involved in specialized actions such as search and rescue, first

aid and fire supression. Postdisaster scenarios from past studies

have shown that public acts rationally and effectively even when

frightened and stressed (Coppola, 2011; ).

Other organisations such as police, health and Oil

Installation/pipeline operators in the UK should also have

more attracting volunteer packages such as best volunteer of

the year, with incentives to attract the public so as to

enlarge the work force and knowledge impactability will

increase.

WAYS AND REASONS WHY NGO’S AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES (LC’S)

SHOULD BE INVOLVED:

The NGO’s and LC’s are always enthusiastic about safety and

are mostly voluntary in humanitarian services trying to

supplement/substitute for the burden government carries when

disaster becomes eminent. The NGO’s have these

characteristics that is required to impact preparedness

which are namely Commendable, Innovators,Service

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Dependable,Pressurisers/Pace setters,Monitors,and as

Partners (Kabanda, n.d.)

Table 2 NGO’s/LC’s Preparedness Measures. ( custom made

from two sources. (Kabanda, n.d.), and Asian Disaster

Preparedness Center, 2001)

Ways NGO’s getInvolved

Ways LC’s getinvolved

Reasons befor/during and afterdisaster

Resourcemobilisation.

Combined Fundraising.

Decentralization ofresponsibility.

Communitymobilisation andsensitisation,

Unity inContribution.

Promotes SelfReliance/Independence.

Community educationand training.

Encourage peopleto get trained.

Ignorance will be erased to thebearest minimum.

Attitude andbehaviour change.

Practicing whathas been taught.

There shall be prompt response.

Capacity building. CapacityBuilding.

Prepare for, to deal with and to alleviate the adverseeffects of disasters

Mechanisms forsocial economicempowerment.

CooperativeSocieties formed.

Promotes unity and trust for oneanother.

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Preparedness

Research andinformationdissemination.

Collaboration inteams.

Solutions are rapid.

Networking, lobbyingand advocacy.

Planninggenerally.

Builds Resilience fast.

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COMPARISONS OF DISASTERSIn comparison of the Longterm social,Economic and

environmental impact of the Buncefield disaster with the

impact of Ibeno spill in Nigeria is highly incompareable.

The town is located in the south of the Niger Delta of

Nigeria (see appendix 2). Jardin (2010), revealed through

her interview with Efnga E.,that little or no interest is

shown to recipients of the effects of oil disasters in the

Niger Delat of Nigeria. Tabulated below are some

observations in comparison between Buncefield and Ibeno

spill disasters. The Ibeno Oil spill was confirmed by NOSDRA

– The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency. The

incident was from the oil facilities of Exxon Mobil, which

have destroyed the flora fauna of the people of Akwa-Ibom

state (The Nation, 2010).

Table 2 Comparison between Buncefield and Ibeno spills

( custom-made from Jardin 2010)

Social, Economic and

Environmental Impact of

Buncefield

Social, Economic and

Environmental Impact of Ibeno

Spill in Nigeria

Received Media Attention

internationally and locally

Media Attention not

pronounced even in Nigeria as

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a nation

Swift action under few hours

of occurrence to stop

disaster

Delay in response to stop

disaster

Environmental laws are

followed and actions taken.

Laws are compromised due to

political influences

Human Rights Protection

optimised

No Human Right protection

implemented

Compensations are paid No Compensations paid

No Deaths recorded/records

available. (see Appendix 3

for casualty graph).

Un-disclosed records

Environment before Business Business before Environment

The effects of Petrochemical realesed to the environment is

highly consequential. Australian Maritime Safety Authority,

(n.d.), revealed that these effects are dependent on a lot

of factors and is always impacting on the environment in

various ways as listed below.

a. The nature of Oil spill

b. The site of Oil spill

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c. The type of flora and fauna in the area

d. The timimg of reproduction cycles and regular migrations

e. The climate at sea all through the oil spill

CONCEPT OF VULNERABILITY AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE TWO

DISASTERS

The vulnerability concept as relates the environment, social

and economics of the community are indispensable parts of

hazards and risk study which refers to the propensity of

communities or regions to usual or scientific hazards

(Kumpulainen, 2006). Given that specific measurement of

uncertainties and precise calculation of reparation is

barely viable, a theoritical approach in vulnerability

evaluation is anticipated. Traits that establish possible

damage are known and uniqueness described. It is optional

that, even exclusive of assessing risk accurately,

vulnerability diminution decreases reparation and fatalities

(Weichselgartner, 2001).

Haven understood the concept of Vulnerability, the table

below shows the differential analysis between the

conseuences of the two disasters.

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Table 3: (Concept of Vulnerability, analysis and

consequences in Buncefield and Ibeno) Adapted from

(Buncefield Major Incident Investigation board (BMIIB) ,

2008) and (Idemudia, 2007)

Vulnerability Analysis/Consequences

in Buncefield

Analysis/Consequences

in Odesse

Flora Fauna Prior to the disaster,

Buncefield had a good

Flora Fauna and

mitigation was

followed after

disaster.

The flora fauna was

good before the

disaster and worse

after the disaster

Income Governmnet have

readily available

suppport for citizens

of the nation and its

habitat before and

Adequate response is

slow and inadequate

for the community

before and after the

disaster and job

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after the disaster

with Job

opportunities.

opportunities are

lacking.

Shelter Good shelter with

constant basic

amenities working

before and after the

disaster.

Poor Housing without

constant power supply

before the disaster

and worse after the

disaster.

Community

Empowerment/Capacity

Building and

Education

System for terms of

micro-credit, training

for skills, Employment

and job creation

before and after

disaster.

No terms for schemes

to alleviate poverty,

no training for

skillsand no

employment and job

creation before and

after disaster.

Socio/cultural

Conditions

Community

participation and

effective corporate-

community

Communication during

and after disaster.

No effective Community

participation and no

effective corporate-

community

Communication during

and after the

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disaster.

MANAGEMENT OF BUNCEFIELD/IBENO DISASTERS BEFORE THE

DISASTERS

Smith (2007),observed some post management failures in the

Buncefield which are elaborated below:

a. Lack of Maintanance on equipments

b. Lack of Monitors

c. Lack of Control systems outside the automated systems

d. Lack of Quality policy implementation

The management of Buncefield ignored some observations made

on their plants and decided to manage them even when it gave

signs of disaster. (Smith 2007).

Ezeobi (2010) reported that the Oil spill in Ibeno attracted

international and local audience which prompted citizens to

ask for prompt actions from government. This shows that,

until there is an out cry for help in the Niger Delta from

its citizens, government do not get informations. Neglegence

have become the catalyst for several menace apart from the

Ibeno Oil spill that has also led to other activities like

Kidnapping and killing of international staffs (Oputa, 2010

). Severally, the people of the community like Fishermen who

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fish on the sea, have severally appealed to them of spills

on the sae but was never taken seriously.

Comparing the two disasters and their managerial skills,

Negelence have been spotted out as a common factor between

them.

DURING THE DISASTER:

The Buncefield Management team constituted a combined combat

team of 000000 workers. The Police, Ambulance/Health, Fire

Fighters, the EA’s and the HPA’s were all readily available

to he;p stop the menace as soon as it was alerted. No lifes

were lost and the injured were given immediate attention.

The Law swang into investigation with compensations to be

paid and penalties following (COMAH, 2005). The Ibeno oil

spill although likened to the Gulf of Mexico, had no

immediate response team. On the contrary, the security

personnels of the company malhandled the protesters. (Dada,

2010).

REMEDIATION MEASURES UNDERTAKEN AFTER EACH OF THE TWO DISASTERS:

Buncefield/Ibeno (disasters)

a. Prompt emergency response team led by the police and 180

firefighters tackled the fire using 26 pumps and over

700,000 liters of foam (COMAH 2005). The Exon Mobil

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company rather than been swift about the spill, offered

bribe for contracts to clean the spill (Sahara Reporters,

2010).

b. Evacuation of about 2000 people were made as remedy as

recorded by COMAH,but in Ibeno Exxon Mobil did nothing to

alleviate the pain of the affected people rather they

were beaten and malhandled (Sahara Reporters, 2010).

c. Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board, (2008)

stated that there is a call for extensive appraisal of

the system for land use as soon as possible. According to

(The Nation, 2010), the previous spill and its effects on

May 01 was yet to be recovered from, how then can land

use act be implemented?

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REFERENCES:

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (2001) Community Based

Disaster Management Course Participants Workbook,

Partnerships for Disaster Reduction South East Asia

Program', Philippines. [online] available from

<

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY

/UNPAN025912.pdf.htm>

[18 June 2010]

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (n.d) 'The Effects of

Oil on Wildlife', Promoting Safety and & Protecting the

Environment, no. [online] available from

<http://www.amsa.gov.au/marine_environment_protection/educat

ional_resources_and_information/teachers/

the_effects_of_oil_on_wildlife.asp.htm> [ 12th June 2011]

Buncefield major incident investigation board (BMIIB) (2008)

' Recommendations on the Emergency Preparedness for response

to and recovery from Incidents', Hemel Hempstead, [online]

available from

<http://www.buncefieldinvestigation.gov.uk/reports/preparedn

ess.pdf-htm> [12th June 2011]

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Preparedness

Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (2008)

'Recommendations on land use planning and the control of

Societal Riskaround major Hazard sites'.[online] available

from

<http://www.buncefieldinvestigation.gov.uk/reports/comahrepo

rt3.pdf.htm>[ 11 June 2011]

Chiemelie Ezeobi (2010) 'Coalition Calls for Redressing of

Ibeno Oil Spill', This Day Live , [online] available from

<http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/coalition-calls-for-

redressing-of-ibeno-oil-spill/83391/htm>[13 July 2011].

COMAH (2005) 'Buncefield: Why did it happen? ', 11 December.

COMAH (2005) 'Control of Major accident Hazards Directive.

Major accident: Short Report ', 11-14December [online]

available from

<http://www.buncefieldinvestigation.gov.uk/reports/rep080306

.pdf.htm>[17 June 2011]

Coppola, D.P. (2011) Introduction to International Disaster

Management, Burlington USA: Butterworth Heinemann.

Dada, B.T. (2010) 'Nigeria: Protest in Ibeno Over Crude Oil

Spill', allAfrica.com, 09 May.

Faulkner, B. (2001) 'Towards a framework for tourism

disaster management', Tourism Management, no. 22, pp. 135-

147.

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Preparedness

Idemudia, U. (2007) 'Corporate Partnerships and Community

Development in the Nigerian Oil Industry Strengths and

Limitations', United Nations Research Institute for Social

development, vol. 2, March.

Kabanda, P. (n.d) The Role Of Ngos In The 3rd World

Countries', Uganda.

<http://www.fiuc.org/esap/MAKER/MAKER2/General/roleofngos.ph

p.htm>[online] available from [16th June 2011].

Katherine J. Tierney, M.k.L.a.R.W.P. (2004.) Facing the

Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United

States., Washington D.C, United States of America.: Joseph

Henry Press.

Kumpulainen, S. (2006) 'VULNERABILITY CONCEPTS IN HAZARD AND

RISK ASSESSMENT. Natural and technological hazards and risks

affecting', Geological Survey of Finland, no. 42, pp. 65–

74,.

M Turoff, M.C.R.H.R.K.M.A.M.V.a.A.K. (2004) 'Assuring

Homeland Security: Continous Monitoring, Control and

Assurance of Emergency Preparedness', Journal of Information

Technology Theory and Application, vol. 3, no. 6, p. 2.

Mike Smith (2007) 'REVIEW OF REPORTS ON BUNCEFIELD', LINK

Associate Internationa, December, pp. 3 - 5.

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Oputa, S. ( 2010 ) 'THE NEGLIGENCE OF A NATION: KIDNAPPING

IN NIGER DELTA', AFRIPOL: Africa Political and Economic

strategic center, 23 july.

OSD (n.d) 'Prevention, Control and Mitigation of

Explosions'.

Sahara Reporters ( 2010) 'ExxonMobil Bribes Ibeno Paramount

Rulers With Oil "Clean Up" Contracts', News & Reports

(Sahara Reportes), 7 July.

South Asia Disaster Management Center (n.d) 'Fire

Disasters'.

The Nation (2010) 'Agency confirms Ibeno Oil Spill', 23 Jun.

Weichselgartner, J. (2001) 'Disaster mitigation: the concept

of vulnerability revisited', Disaster Prevention and

Management, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 85 - 95.

Weick, K. (1993) 'The Collapse of Sensemaking in

Organisations : The Mann Gulch Disaster', Administrative

Sciences Quaterly, pp. 628 - 652(38).

Xeni Jardin

(www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html)

(2010) 'More oil spilled in Nigeria "every year than has

been lost in the Gulf of Mexico', (Video: Al Jazeera report

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on a new legal battle against Royal Dutch Shell and other

foreign oil companies polluting the Niger Delta.), 14 June.

APPENDIX 1

STAPLEE

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Social :- In social mitigation option, this will be accepted

if it does not affect any sector of the community or

preferably if the greater part of the community agrees to

embark upon the measure for solution.

Technical: - The technical part poses the future with a

question of long term benefits. Will this option be

possible? If not, it is dropped.

Administrative: - This aspect covers the staffing, funding

and maintenance of the project. Involving the community and

help from outside the community is paramount in this aspect

of administration.

Political: - Political interest may arise due to receiving

permits in terms of usage of community facilities against

their wishes. Managers will have to investigate what

community feels about such development that may arise. If

ignored, there may be less support which poses a threat for

failure.

Legal: - Every jurisdiction may be given powers around

certain communities. It will be accepted if managers seek

for legal permit and authority to back them to avoid legal

offences.

Economic: - Mitigation measure as this should be cost

effective and economically viable. Communities will be

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involved if funds are sourced from outside and shall be

beneficial to them at the Long-term.

Environmental: - Empirically, mitigation methods affect the

environment in positive and negative ways respectively. The

ability to stable the benefits from negative implications

are of utmost concern not to degrade the environment at

large.

APPENDIX 2

Local Government Areas in Akwaibom State

Abak, Eastern-Obolo, Eket, Esit-Eket, Essien Udim, Etim-

Ekpo, Etinan, Ibeno, Ibesikpo-Asutan, Ibiono-Ibom, Ika,

Ikono, Ikot Abasi, Ikot Ekpene, Ini, Itu, Mbo, Mkpat-Enin,

Nsit-Atai, Nsit-Ibom, Nsit-Ubium, Obot-Akara, Okobo, Onna,

Oron, Oruk, Anam, Ukanafun, Udung-Uko, Uruan,

Urue-Offong/Oruko, Uyo (Adopted from Akwa Ibom State

Website)

Fig.1 showing map of Akwa- Ibom State with Ibeno as Local

Government Area (Adopted from Akwa Ibom State Website)

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Appendix 3

Fig.2 Societal risk plot (FN curve format) for determining

maximum allowable population at risk from a major hazard

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incident on the Buncefield Site. Adopted from ( Buncefeild

Report 2006 )

Impact of Oil and Gas

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