Centre asked to mop up oil spills

The main reason behind seeking Centre’s help to establish this system on a permanent basis is the increasing oil import/export activity in the Gulf of Kutch. Besides the presence of two major oil refineries — Reliance and Essar — off the Jamnagar coast,the IOC has set up two single buoy moorings (SBM) off the Vadinar coast near Jamnagar. These have been set up to offload imported crude oil for supply to its Mathura and Koyali refineries.

Confirming this,state Principal Secretary (Forest and Environment) S K Nanda said the Centre has been requested to introduce a foolproof system in the Indian territorial waters (five nautical miles from the coast) in the

Gulf of Kutch to deal with such accidents. “It’s high time that such a mechanism is in place in view of the increasing developmental activities in the Gulf of Kutch,” said Nanda.

A “Tier-II” system is being proposed,where a shipwell equipped with the latest technology and trained personnel could be stationed at a strategic location in the Gulf of Kutch to help prevent the spread of oil in the sea,and save the marine life.

Officials in the department concede that industrial activities in this coastal zone,especially the laying of sub-sea crude oil pipelines through the National Marine Park and Sanctuary off the Jamnagar coast,must be strictly monitored to protect the rich marine bio-diversity there. ‘

“The increasing human-induced activities in the Gulf of Kutch have certainly put a great pressure on the flora and fauna,including mangroves and coral reef,” a senior official said.

The book,Coastal and Marine Environments of Gujarat: Ecology and Economics,published by the Gujarat Ecology Society had also expressed similar apprehensions.

“The main threats to the eco-system of the Gulf of Kutch are from oil,petrochemicals and allied industries. The gulf area is being aggressively developed as oil importing bases because of its proximity to the oil exporting countries of West Asia.

A constant red alert has to be maintained against any accidental,operational and intentional releases (of crude oil) to avoid any catastrophe,” observed the authors of the book.

‘Rupture in pipelines off Panna Mukta exploration field likely cause of spillage’

The Coast Guard,which recently conducted an aerial survey over the south Gujarat coast,suspects that the recent oil spillage across a 100-km swath on the coast was due to the rupture in undersea pipelines off the Panna Mukta oil/gas exploration field. A joint venture of British Gas,Reliance and ONGC operates here.

In their survey report sent to the state Forest and Environment Department on Thursday,the Coast Guard authorities stated: “It is understood that BG,Reliance and ONGC’s joint venture developed rupture in undersea pipelines on August 1-2,leading to a suspicion that the oil slick found in the south Gujarat coast may be the result of this pipeline rupture.”

Confirming this,a senior official in the department told The Indian Express on Friday that it was clear from the Coast Guard’s report that the spillage was caused by crude oil. “We have collected the samples of tar balls from the coast,and sent them to the Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun for a detailed analysis of the same,” said the official.

He added that a five-member team constituted by the government to find the circumstances behind the spillage has submitted its report. “The fact-finding team also endorses,more or less,the observations made by the Coast Guard personnel in their report.”

According to him,the analysis of tar ball samples done by corporate labs — recognised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest — at Vapi and Surat have also confirmed that the spillage had been caused by crude oil. He further said that an operation was on to clean the tar balls mainly found at four coastal places – Moti Borsi,Magod Dungri,Tithal and Devka beaches – on a 100-km stretch between Daman and Moti Borsi in Navsari. —

ENS