Impactul exploatarii petrolului asupra mediului natural din

Arabia Saudita
http://www.albawaba.com/business/saudi-arabia-environmental-issues-part-one

Environmental protection issues in Saudi Arabia are inseparable from natural resource development.
Saudi Arabia's vast petroleum reserves have provided the country with significant economic wealth.
As a result, environmental protection in Saudi Arabia is viewed with an eye towards the development
of the country's oil and gas reserves.

As global environmental awareness has increased, the "Desert Kingdom" has placed more
emphasis on protecting its citizens from environmental hazards.

While environmentalists increasingly point fingers at fossil fuels as being harmful to the environment,
Saudi Arabia has attempted to forge a delicate balance--the country depends on oil and gas exports
for its economic growth, but the Saudi government is also trying to develop its natural resources in
an environmentally-friendly way.

Saudi Arabia is striving to minimize the effects of oil and gas production on its delicate desert
environment, as well as to safeguard the health of Saudi citizens.

The Meteorology and Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA) is responsible for all environmental
matters in Saudi Arabia, including planning for the conservation of natural marine and coastal
resources.

The country is keen to protect the environmental safety of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and the
Saudi petroleum industry--led by Saudi Aramco, the state oil company--has contributed to
environmental protection through safety measures, early warning systems against possible leakage,
and advanced methods to control and contain any pollution.

Aramco's Environmental Conservation Policy directs that the company not create undue risks to the
environment, and that operations be carried out with concern for protection of the land, air, and
water.

Aramco has developed an array of operational requirements, engineering standards, and

performance guidelines to implement this policy, including sanitary codes, environmental
assessments, bioremediation, air quality and emission standards, noise-control regulations, landfill
standards, water recycling procedures, hazardous material disposal rules, and oil spill contingency
plans.
As world oil demand increases, however, Saudi Arabia is increasing its production and export
capacity, leading to an increasing volume of oil being shipped through pipelines and via tankers. As
shipping traffic becomes more congested, the odds of spills and accidents increases, putting the
environment at greater risk.

Environmental Impact of Oil Exploration and Production

Although technological innovations have reduced the impact that oil exploration and extraction have
on the environment, several risks still remain. Offshore drilling can affect the integrity of the coastal
shelf, as well as have a negative effect on marine life. Transporting oil to world markets--via barge,
supertanker, or pipeline--runs the risk of spillage.

Although improved ship design and better cleanup techniques have reduced the impact of oil spills,
oil discharges in the Persian Gulf--both accidental and otherwise--have been on the increase, posing
a threat to Gulf ecology and environment.

Offshore Development and Marine Life : Although the relative lack of precipitation, human
population, inflow from rivers, and other natural disturbances has kept Red Sea reefs healthy overall,
those along the Saudi coast are threatened by pollution from the increasing development of poorly
regulated Saudi and Egyptian oil fields and related population centers, and from the de-ballasting of
ships moving through the heavily trafficked Suez region.

On the Persian Gulf side, Saudi Arabia has infilled more than 40 percent of its coastline, wiping out
half its mangroves, while dredging and sedimentation are causing major ecological problems in
coastal habitats.

Fewer coral species thrive in the Gulf than in the Red Sea, with many living near their maximum
tolerances due to high salinity and wide temperature swings. Environmentalists have warned that a
significant percentage of the oil produced by offshore oil rigs has been spilling into the sea (which is
already prone to contamination due to a relatively shallow average depth of of 97 feet) because of
seepages in the sea bed, cracks in rigs, illegal discharges by oil companies and vessels and
accidental spills.

In addition, salt-laden wastewater from the oil production process that is dumped into the Gulf is
increasing the salinity of the water and posing a grave threat to marine life. The Regional
Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment, a leading Arab environmental
organization, warns that a September 1999 die-off of fish in the northern Gulf, due to high salt level
in the water and 100-degree water temperatures, is the result of global warming compounded by
indiscriminate dumping of wastewater in the region by oil companies and unchecked oil seepage.

Although the latest industrial techniques go a long way to ensure that waste is handled in an
environmentally-responsible fashion, many oil companies in the region have yet to implement these
technologies.

However, Saudi Arabia is beginning to take steps towards protecting its marine habitats while
exploring for offshore oil. In 1997, Aramco began a study with the Research Institute at the King
Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran to determine whether shallow marine habitats
along the Red Sea coastline can be mapped reliably using satellite remote-sensing data and
sophisticated image-processing techniques, thereby minimizing costly and damaging fieldwork. Such
mapping is part of the company's ongoing effort to minimize the impact of shoreline and offshore
activities on the marine environment.

Aramco is undertaking a number of studies to determine how better to minimize its impact on the
marine environment. Major marine studies include the 18-year-old Bioaccumulation Monitoring
Program, which monitors the entry of hydrocarbons and heavy-metal toxins into the food chain of
Gulf Coast clams.

The Bioassay Toxicity Testing Program, the first of its kind in the region, tests the effect of drilling
muds on laboratory-raised kin of the Gulf shrimp. The study has helped in the development of
nontoxic drilling muds. Aramco also has worked with the National Commission for Wildlife
Conservation and Development to plant mangrove trees along the Persian Gulf coastline of the Ras
Tanura Peninsula, providing a nursery for fish and shrimp, and expanding the biological habitat in
Tarut Bay.

Spills and Response Preparedness:

Oil spills are a major threat to both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Heavy oil tanker traffic
through several chokepoints, including Bab el-Mandab, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Suez Canal
and Sumed Pipeline, are a constant threat. In addition, the extensive shallow coastal waters limit on-
water recovery methods, making preventive strategies all the more important to protect coastal
resources.
Nevertheless, the Persian Gulf has experienced a number of moderate-to-large oil spills over the
past 20 years. During the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, oil tankers in the Gulf were attacked,
resulting in thousands of barrels of oil spillage.

However, the damage done to the environment by that war was dwarfed by the catastrophic effects
of oil spilled during the Persian Gulf War: on January 23, 1991, Iraq began intentionally pumping
crude oil into the Gulf from the Sea Island supertanker terminal 10 miles off the Kuwaiti coast.

The spill, described by then-Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams described the act as "the worst
environmental disaster in the history of the Persian Gulf," is also the worst recorded oil spill in world
history, with approximately 5.7 million barrels of oil dumped.

While a major international response effort recovered more than one million barrels of oil from Saudi
Arabia's shoreline, the spill caused severe environmental damage, highlighting the need to respond
quickly to future spills.

MEPA is in charge of dealing with oil spills in Saudi waters--its reporting and response capabilities
are outlined in the National Contingency Plan for Combating Marine Pollution by Oil and Other
Harmful Substances in Emergencies.

According to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), this plan established
Environmental Protection Coordinating Committees--one for the Red Sea coast and one for the Gulf
Coast. Among their responsibilities are the preparation of area plans (including local plans for marine
and coastal oil facilities), identification of necessary manpower and equipment, and training staff in
response activities.

In addition, the Gulf Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organization (GAOCMAO), was established to
protect the marine environment in the Persian Gulf from oil pollution emanating from operations of
GAOCMAO member oil companies in the region.

The organization was founded on the idea that each company shares the responsibility to ensure a
long-term commitment to the "Clean Gulf" concept by preventing operational oil spills, stopping
tanker discharges, safety of ships leading to cleaner seas, and total stoppage of industrial waste
discharge to sea.

Saudi Aramco, which is a charter member of GAOCMAO, is also a member of several key regional
and international agencies involved in oil spill response. Aramco is a member of the International
Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association, whose main purpose is to inform
members of environmental developments and facilitate communications between the oil industry and
relevant organizations on environmental issues.

The company also participates in the Oil Industry International Exploration & Production Forum, the
Oil Companies International Marine Forum, and ITOPF.

In addition to its readiness training, Aramco maintains regional command and control centers for oil
spill response, and houses emergency equipment, including dedicated aircraft, to battle spills at
sea.

Aramco engages in air and sea surveillance of all its offshore operating areas, and has a full-time oil
spill cleanup group dedicated to the task of pollution control in and around the company's exporting
terminals.

Air Pollution:

According to Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister Dr. Muhammad Al-Jarallah, pollution in Saudi cities
is the lowest in the Middle East. Aramco operates 10 Air Quality Monitoring and Meteorology
Network (AMMNET) stations and 15 meteorology-only stations throughout the Kingdom.

AMMNET stations ensure facilities meet national and company air quality standards for limits on
sulfur dioxide, inhalable particulates, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide,
among other pollutants.

Air quality in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province has benefited greatly from several initiatives. Aramco's
Master Gas System, which significantly reduced the need for flaring, recovers more than 3,500 tons
of elemental sulfur per day from gas produced in association with crude oil.

Also, in July 1999 the Saudi Consolidated Electric Company announced that all service and repair
workshops in the city of Jubail, including some at the Jubail Industrial City itself, would be relocated
to a new site outside the residential areas and far from the city zones in order to protect the
population from pollution and hazardous waste.

Saudi air quality should continue to improve with the introduction of unleaded gasoline in the country
in January 2001. Currently, importers immediately remove catalytic converters from newly arrived
cars and trucks so that they do not cause fires when choked with leaded gasoline.
With the total phaseout of leaded gasoline scheduled for the end of 2001, the switch to unleaded
gasoline will result in a need for an estimated 3 million catalytic converters in order to reduce
pollution from vehicle exhaust.

In addition, the first natural gas-powered car will come into use in Saudi Arabia in March 2001. The
project to replace gasoline with natural gas was adopted by the Chamber of Commerce Council
(CCC) in cooperation with Saudi Aramco, and the experimental operation will start at the Riyadh
premises of the CCC.

While Saudi Arabia imported almost 114,000 new and used cars in 1998, up 37 percent from 1997,
many of the new cars are relatively small and environmentally-friendly. As the price of gasoline has
risen in Saudi Arabia (in March 2000, the average price of one gallon of premium gasoline in Saudi
Arabia was $1.51), smaller cars with better gas mileage have become more popular. So although
there are more cars on Saudi roads, those cars are more fuel efficient and less-polluting than in the
past.

http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wmt/courses/ICS5_W13/SaudiArabia.html

Essay of Saudi Arabia - Three Environmental Issues and IT Technology

Introduction
Saudi Arabia is the country that produces the largest amount of crude oil in the world.
It has strong leadership in OPEC, and cities that are placed in the seaside are highly
developed. Saudi Arabia has strong economy based on their sale of oil, which make
Saudi Arabia to be capable of importing large amount of goods. On the other hand,
most part of Saudi Arabia��s territory is composed by desert, over 98%. Because of
large desert, Saudi Arabia cannot produce enough amounts of foods and industrial
goods for itself. Also, because Saudi Arabia is producing the largest amount of crude
oil, air pollution resulted from oil production is serious (UNDP). In addition, to fight
back desertification and droughts, Saudi Arabia produces its own water from
desalinating sea water. However, after the process of desalination, desalination plants
throw polluted water away to sea, which causes water pollution around Red Sea, Gulf
of Aden, and Arabian Sea.

Three Issues
Desertification, Water Pollution, and Air pollution are the most hazardous
environmental issues in Saudi Arabia (PDKK). Especially, desertification is the most
serious environmental issue. However, the other two issues are serious as well, and
they are getting worse by time. First, air pollution in Saudi Arabia is originally come
crude oil. While they are refining crude oil, it creates different kinds of greenhouse
gases that create air pollution (United States Energy Information Administration).
These gases also cause increment of temperature of Saudi Arabia as well. As a result,
air pollution in Saudi Arabia also affects desertification because of increasing
temperature (Freudenrich). Also, greenhouse from urban cities is causing air pollution
as well. Second, desertification is serious problem in Saudi Arabia. According to
UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), approximately more
than 98% of land mass of Saudi Arabia is desert. It is not only the problem of Saudi
Arabia, but also every country in Arabian region is suffering the problem of
desertification. Approximately 2,331,000 km2 of Arabian region is desert, and desert
of whole Asian region increased 1,671.8 hectare in 2011. Desertification decreases
food production in large scale, especially production of crops. In Saudi Arabia,
because of large scale of desert, only 1.6% of land is available for agriculture.
Therefore, Saudi Arabia is highly depending on import for their food and industrial
goods, which is over 70% (UNCCD). In addition, desertification eliminates water
table underground, which result oasis to be gone (Safrey). Therefore, this hazardous
cycle goes on and on. In order to resolve this problem, government of Saudi Arabia
builds desalination plants to create pure water from sea water (UNCCD). However,
this solution creates another environmental problem, water pollution. During the
process of desalination of sea water, machines heat sea water and gather the water
vapor, which is gathered to be pure water for agricultural and industrial use. However,
after the process of desalination, sea water becomes polluted with high concentration
of salt. Aftermath of desalination, this water does not only contain high salt
concentration, but it also contains high concentration of metal (Sabine Lattemann).
This water cannot be used in agriculture and city, so mostly they throw it away to the
sea. As a result, it damages ecology of the sea. Polluted water extinct hundreds of sea
creatures; it damages biodiversity of Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea
(PDKK). Water pollution, desertification, and air pollution are three important
environmental issues that are discussed in Saudi Arabia, and government is seeking
several solutions to resolve these problems.

Eco City

One of the solutions for environmental problems of Saudi Arabia is creating Eco-city.
It is long-term project that reducing greenhouse gas and reducing pollutants that
influence our environment. There are several Eco cities that are in progress. German,
France, USA, and Korea already made positive results out of it. By using ubiquitous
IT technologies, the computer automatically makes process of smart sewage system,
smart highway, and so on. Not only in Eastern Asia and Europe, there are several
countries in Arabian region that is planning to build these smart cities. Because
Arabian region has high level of sunlight during the day, they are expecting high
efficiency of solar power for urban use. Scientists expect that by using solar power,
whole city can reduce emission of greenhouse gas in large scale. In urban use, solar
energy may replace oil to produce electricity for air conditioner, lights, cars (hybrid),
etc (Tigitcanlar). This would benefit Saudi Arabia��s economy as well, because
they will use solar energy as the source of electricity, instead of using oil to produce
electricity. Therefore, they would save more oil to export. In addition, using solar
power will reduce the rate of air pollution.

Eco city��s function will not only resolve the problem of air pollution, but it will
also resolve the problem of water pollution caused by desalination plant. By using
smart sewage and water recycling system, people in Eco city can recycle water, so
they can reduce the use of water from desalination plants (Tigitcanlar). Therefore,
they do not have to use large amount of heat and electricity to boil sea water. As a
result, Saudi Arabia does not have to dump polluted water to their sea. Smart water-
recycling system will benefit Saudi Arabia��s economy by reducing the size of
desalination plant. Saudi Arabia is spending about 2/3 of benefit from exporting oil to
build more desalination plants and secure water out of different water-producing
systems (Sabine Lattemann). So, using smart water-recycling systems will benefit not
only environment, but also the economy of Saudi Arabia. Then, reducing the size and
use of desalination plant will reduce the rate of water pollution in large scale as well.

Eco city can influence water pollution and air pollution. However, we cannot expect
whether it will reduce the speed of desertification. There is no clue that Eco city can
reduce degradation of land, because there is no example. Eco city is originally
designed for the city where is surrounded by environment which is relatively better
than Arabian region. Therefore, we cannot ensure that Eco city project can help Saudi
Arabians with desertification. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is having progress with
Eco city. It is building Eco City that will function with solar and wind power.
Scientists expect that this Eco city will not only reduce water pollution and air
pollution, but it may also reduce desertification (Alternative Energy).

Conclusion

Eco city is hard project to proceed. It is very expensive, time consuming, and
unpredictable. However, preceding examples from other countries encourage that it
does have powerful and positive impact afterward. Thus, it can be concluded that
creating Eco city would benefit Saudi Arabia not only reducing water pollution and
air pollution, but it can also benefit Saudi Arabia��s economy.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-04-11/news/mn-322_1_saudi-arabia

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia — A broken pipeline and ruptured storage tanks in Kuwait are feeding 126,000
gallons of new crude oil a day into the enormous spill that is ruining the coastal waters of Saudi Arabia and
other Persian Gulf states, Saudi officials report.

The spill, a byproduct of the war with Iraq, continues to daunt cleanup crews 11 weeks after an estimated 2
million barrels of oil were dumped into the Gulf.

Coupled with hundreds of oil well fires raging in Kuwait, the spill constitutes a war-spawned environmental
disaster that could threaten the Gulf's complex ecosystem for years and has already killed wildlife and ravaged
Saudi Arabia's shrimp industry.

After a barrage of criticism from environmentalists and others who charged that the cleanup was moving at a
dangerously slow pace, Saudi officials this week released figures intended to illustrate significant progress in
efforts to remove oil from Gulf waters.

More than 800,000 barrels of oil-saturated water have been skimmed and pumped from Saudi Arabia's
shoreline, said Jennifer Freedman, a spokeswoman for the Saudi Meteorology and Environmental Protection
Administration.

The campaign was plagued from the start by the war, Saudi Arabia's financial troubles and infighting among
rival government agencies. There were delays in acquiring equipment and in dedicating manpower and know-
how to stop the flow of oil--delays that environmentalists say let the oil seep into sensitive fishing grounds and
bird-breeding areas.

Adding to the trouble, observation flights by the U.S. Coast Guard last week spotted oil flowing from damaged
storage tanks at the Ahmadi terminal south of Kuwait city and from a broken pipeline at Abu Halayfa, farther
north.

The Coast Guard reported that the two leaks were pouring an estimated 3,000 barrels--or 126,000 gallons--into
the Gulf each day.

The oil is moving south toward Saudi Arabian waters, Freedman said.

The new leaks underscore one of the major obstacles in stopping the spill's damage: cutting it off at the source.
With much of Kuwait's main harbor mined until recently and work to put out oil well fires going extremely
slow, little has been done to stop the flow of oil.

On Sunday, an oceangoing Dutch tug towed from the Kuwait city harbor the first of several damaged tankers
that may be sources of some spilled oil, Freedman said.

The spill had appeared to be slowing in mid-March as it lingered inside the Saudi peninsula of Dawhat ad Dafi.
But on March 18, the slick breached that barrier and continued southward. It now stretches about 275 miles
from Kuwait, along Saudi Arabia and into the waters around Qatar and Bahrain.

The spill was triggered Jan. 23 when, according to U.S. officials, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the
opening of spigots on a Kuwaiti offshore oil terminal.

Freedman said the last three weeks marked a "substantial upswing" in the amount of oil that workers were
capturing and depositing in large collection pools.

Key to the increased cleanup pace was the ability of Aramco, the Saudi-owned petroleum conglomerate, to
more than double the amount of oil it is retrieving. Aramco has been working with a task force of international
groups, the Saudi agency and a variety of private contractors to protect the desert kingdom's crucial
desalination and hydroelectric plants and, now, to defoul the shoreline.

Another Dutch contractor working for the Saudis this week began flushing oil from the mangrove-covered
island of Al Qurmah.

Despite the limited advances, critics maintain that efforts come too late to avoid devastating environmental
damage. The Saudis acted quickly--and successfully--to protect their water supply and harbor facilities when
the oil spill began, but they allowed crucial time to pass while the slick spread south into Saudi wetlands.

Oil sheen and "tar balls"--two of the early signs of an approaching oil slick--have been spotted as far south as
Qatar and Bahrain.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6485

A mishap during the loading of an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia in 1993 initiated
a cascading disaster, resulting in what was the largest offshore oil spill ever,
but the oil was mostly recovered by deploying supertankers to vacuum up the
spill. This is the story told by a former Saudi Aramco engineer in concert with
his efforts to convince BP and the U.S. Coast Guard to consider this approach
for cleaning up the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

While the possibility of a spill-tested but presently ignored solution to the

unfolding environmental mess is very intriguing, I was equally drawn to the
fact that, if the story were true, Saudi Aramco had managed to keep this
massive spill and its mostly-successful remediation a secret for over sixteen
years. Not unexpectedly, Saudi Aramco has denied that this spill took place.
Who is telling the truth?

Who cares! Start the movie!

Background: The Oils of War

The Arabian (or Persian) Gulf is not one of the more pristine bodies of water,
given that it is the conduit for a good chunk of the world's oil and is perforated
at its rather shallow bottom with hundreds of wells. But what is currently
believed to be the largest spill happened not as a result of an accident, but
rather as war strategy. On January 16, 1991, Allied forces began bombing Iraq
in preparation for the military reconquest of Kuwait. About 2-3 days later,
Iraq began releasing oil from the Kuwait Sea Island terminal into the Arabian
(Persian) Gulf. This spill was later augmented by oil from other sources
including tankers and refineries. The oil flowed for about 10 days, and
although the total amount of oil spilled is not precisely known, and EPA
estimate of 6 million barrels makes this the largest oil spill on record,
surpassing the 3.5 million barrels Ixtoc Gulf of Mexico spill in 1980.

Given the direction of water flow in the Arabian Gulf, the shores of Saudi
Arabia bore the brunt of the spill:

The largest oil spill in the history of the Gulf hit 700 kilometers (435 mi) of
Saudi Arabia’s coastline during the 1991 Gulf War. As it drifted south, the oil
sank into wet sands and formed layers of tar that poisoned the breeding
grounds of fish and crustaceans. Teams from Saudi Aramco worked around
the clock to protect vital water-intake channels used for power generation,
desalination and injection, and they recovered more than 1.2 million barrels of
oil—the largest amount ever collected from a spill—thus sparing hundreds of
kilometers of beaches and intertidal areas.

Years later, the environmental effects were still being assessed all over the
Gulf. Studies continued for many years, many scientific papers were
published, and oil companies developed emergency spill response plans to
handle such situations. But according to one report, an even bigger spill
happened sometime in 1993, but nobody told anybody who was still fretting
over the previous largest spill.

Déjà vu, Oil Over Again

In Esquire Magazine's The Politics Blog, former Shell Oil President John
Hofmeister was being interviewed by writer Mark Warren about BP's response
to the current crisis when he said this:

JH: The work going on to close the well is taking multiple approaches, and I
am aware that BP has sent out a message to all the oil companies asking for
help and advice. And I actually sent some people to BP in terms of the spill
response cleanup to try to get them aware of a process that has been used in
the Arabian Gulf that has not been used in the Gulf of Mexico, and that is to
use supertankers, empty supertankers, to suck up the oil off the surface, where
they can store the oil, they can treat the water, they can discharge the water
and then they can either salvage the oil or destroy it, as the case may be. And I
know the mayor of New Orleans and a few other officials are now asking BP
about that process as a result of these engineers coming forward from Saudi
Aramco.

ES: When did that spill happen, John?

JH: I don't actually know, but it was sometime back, there was a huge, huge
spill that never got reported, because they don't have an open press,
obviously... But I was told it was a 700-million-gallon spill.

ESQ: That would be the biggest, right?

JH: That would be the biggest the world has ever known. And they used six
supertankers to clean up the oil and were very successful. We'd do well to get
supertankers in the Gulf.

Hofmeister learned of the Saudi spill during the recent Offshore Technology
Conference in Houston in a conversation with Nick Pozzi, who was employed
by Saudi Aramco and had first hand knowledge of the cleanup (although not
the incident itself). Pozzi and his current business partner, attorney Jon King,
have been trying to persuade BP to consider the strategy that seemingly
worked on a much larger spill in 1993.

Warren next contacted Pozzi and King and they gave further details of the
Saudi spill and cleanup effort.

The primary equipment that was used to remove the crude from the Arabian
Gulf was Super Tankers. The Super Tankers were used to store everything, run
thru on-shore three-phase separators and sent to on-shore tank farms for
additional clean up using centrifuges. The more the oil spreads the more
tankers will be needed. Nick would be willing to provide a conceptual non-
technical drawing to visualize this process.

Also at the above link is video from the NBC Today show with an interview of
Hofmeister.

Oil Port 1993

The thought of six supertankers meandering around slurping up oil like
whales feeding on krill invokes wonder. Further details on the incident itself
are revealed in a story from AOLNews:

The 1993 Persian Gulf spill, Pozzi says, began when Aramco was loading a
tanker and "the umbilical cord got away." Oil started spewing from the pumps.
Panicked, a line of tankers waiting to be filled began hightailing away from the
flammable spray. Massive ships maneuvered in tight quarters. It was chaos.

Because of a confidentiality agreement with Aramco, Pozzi won't describe

exactly what happened next, except to say that "there were [then] other
mishaps causing other oil to spill."

"The order of magnitude rose exponentially due to the panic level," he says.

The Politics Blog also had this:

The suck-and-salvage technique was developed in desperation across the

Arabian Gulf following a spill of mammoth proportions — 700 million gallons
— that has until now gone unreported, as Saudi Arabia is a closed society, and
its oil company, Saudi Aramco, remains owned by the House of Saud. But in
1993 and into '94, with four leaking tankers and two gushing wells, the royal
family had an environmental disaster nearly sixty-five times the size of Exxon
Valdez on its hands, and it desperately needed a solution.

To recap the sequence of events, what we have so far is:

1. A tanker is loading crude while several (at least three) additional tankers
are waiting in line
2. The "umbilical cord" feeding the tanker is dislodged, spewing crude oil
into the water
3. The tankers begin scrambling to move away from the oil
4. In the ensuing panic, four tankers end up leaking oil and two wells are
somehow uncorked.
5. 700 million gallons of oil is eventually spilled, with 85% of it collected
over six months using supertankers as giant wet/dry vacuums.
6. Oil is offloaded to onshore gas oil separation plants.

Assuming these details are accurate, the following questions come to mind:

1. When did the spill happen?

2. Where could this spill have happened?
3. Could that much have been spilled?
 4. Where did the tankers used to collect the oil come from?
5. How would the oil be separated from the water?
6. Is there any evidence of such a spill?

Alternately, all or part of the story could be fiction. Indeed, after several
weeks, Saudi Aramco finally issued a flat denial.

Dhahran, June 22, 2010 -- Saudi Aramco unequivocally refutes allegations

reported in several news media and Internet blogs about an alleged "secret" oil
spill during 1993 in the Arabian Gulf. The Company states that there is no
factual basis to those allegations, and there was no such event or incident as
alleged concerning its operations in 1993, 1994, or at any other time. Saudi
Aramco confirms that it participated in oil spill cleanup activities and
operations in early 1991 during the Gulf Conflict. Under the leadership of
Saudi Arabia’s government, the Company, together with various agencies,
undertook oil spill cleanup operations lasting for about six months until July
1991. The Company’s response to the 1991 oil spill was carried out with the
technologies and best practices available at that time, such as portable
skimmers and containment booms.

Although the company utilized a number of work and supply boats, Saudi
Aramco wishes to clarify that no supertankers were used during the 1991 spill
cleanup operations. The concept of utilizing supertankers to collect large
quantities of spilled oil was never pursued. The Company has made reports
available to several news media outlets about Saudi Aramco’s involvement in
the 1991 spill cleanup. One of the reports was published in Saudi Aramco’s
Dimensions Magazine Fall 1996 edition and can be viewed
athttp://www.saudiaramco.com/irj/go/km/docs/SaudiAramcoPublic/Extern
alFile... The Company also confirms that Mr. Nicholas Pozzi is a former
employee and worked as a foreman in Saudi Aramco’s East-West Pipeline
Department. However, he made no significant contribution to the Company’s
spill preparedness or response teams during his employment or at any other
time. The claims made about his alleged efforts at a 1993 oil spill response
operation are without factual basis.

This seems rather unambiguous. Some might remain skeptical, however, as

having to own up to this after so many years would be embarrassing. Would
they lie?

The Motivation for Secrecy

Trying to understand the need for Saudi Aramco to keep such an incident
secret is probably no easier than understanding their need to keep their oil
production data secret. In my articles on various Saudi projects, I have noted
several cases where they have clearly been less than forthcoming:

The Oil Drum

Satellite o'er the Desert

Many observers are skeptical about Saudi oil reserves claims as well as
the status and oil production level of Ghawar, the world's largest oil field.
While there are valid arguments to be made for more transparency, Saudi
Aramco can also make valid claims of the need for secrets (for security reasons
if nothing else). But an oil spill which could impact other counties coastlines
(not to mention its ability to deliver oil to customers) would seem to fall into a
different category. The coastline of Saudi Arabia suffered the most from the
1990 spill during the Gulf War:

The Gulf War Oil Spill Twelve Years Later: Consequences of Eco-Terrorism

What Happened To The GULF: Two Years After The World's Greatest Oil-
Slick

On one hand, Saudi Aramco has allowed the documentation of many field-
related problems in Society of Professional Engineers (SPE) publications.
Indeed, Matt Simmons wrote Twilight in the Desert based on an analysis of
many such papers. But there is also a curious, almost amateur, approach to
the censuring of the papers of name and place data. Nevertheless, information
eventually leaks out in some form. A concealment of this magnitude would
seem to require a more foolproof approach and motivation.

On the other hand, Saudi Aramco doesn't really admit to any oil spills.
From The Tankership Tromedy:

You can see that most of the CTX transfer spills are at the discharge port
(activity codes L and d). I would not make much of this. Most load ports are in
countries which, whether they are strict or lax, don’t make spills public. The
CTX database has no spills at Ras Tanura/Juaymah by far the largest tanker
load port in terms of volume. This port loads half-a-dozen big tankers a day.
Based on my experience, I’d be surprised if this port averaged less than one
spill a week, almost all of them quite small.
Checking Out the Story

Despite the rather emphatic denial by Saudi Aramco, I will look into the
possibility of the spill, partly because some of you won't believe them, but also
because it's fun. Back to the questions raised earlier:

1) When did the spill happen?

The account says the cleanup occurred from 1993 into 1994, spanning six
months, so the spill would have happened in summer 1993.

2) Where could this spill have happened?

(This will take a bit longer to cover)

Most Saudi Arabian crude oil is loaded onto tankers at one of four separate
locations: The main oil export terminal at Ras Tanura, the Al Juaymah
offshore terminal about 20 miles northwest of Ras Tanura, a similar but
smaller offshore terminal in the offshore Zuluf oil field, and the Yanbu
terminal on the Red Sea (via pipeline), Below is a map showing the location of
Ras Tanura along with those for the major Saudi offshore fields.

Major Saudi Arabian Offshore Oil Fields. Oil export terminals are indicated with reddish dots.

The largest oil exporting terminal in the world is located on the Ras Tanura
peninsula and is capable of loading over 5 million barrels of oil per day onto
tankers moored on one of two T-shaped terminals (small vessels only) or on
one of a cluster of four Sea Islands located offshore in deeper water. The limit
for tankers berthed at the Sea Islands is 550,000 dwt (dead-weight tons).
Shown below is a satellite image of Ras Tanura seen in Google Earth (this
image and those further below copyright Google and Friends).

Ras Tanura Oil Terminal, the world's largest.

Below is a closeup of a tanker being loaded at one of the Sea Islands. Oil is
delivered to the islands via underwater pipeline and pumped into the tankers
via several Chiksan loading arms, or articulated steel pipes.

Tanker loading at Ras Tanura Sea Island.

Here is a video of a Chiksan gasoline loading operation gone awry.

The Al Juaymah Offshore Terminal is located to the northwest of Ras Tanura,

just east of the Qatif oil field as shown below. The Qatif field lies both on and
off shore, with several offshore platforms positioned to drill and maintain
offshore wells. Oil is loaded onto tankers from Single Point Moorings (SPMs)
anchored in deeper water such that larger ships can be handled (up to
700,000 dwt). It has been in operation since 1974. The Al Juaymah complex
also includes a pier from which liquified natural gas (LNG) is loaded onto
ships.

Al Juaymah Offshore Oil Terminal (Single Point Moorings)

Oil is similarly delivered from shore in underwater pipeline to a platform,

distributed to the SPMs and then transferred to the tanker via large flexible
hoses connecting them to the SPM. There are six SPMs at Al Juaymah, which
can theoretically output six million barrels per day and has been in
operation as early as the 1970s. In a 2005 Google Earth satellite image, I can
only find two SPMs, although others might be present in low resolution
images.
Two tankers (separated by one mile) loading at Al Juaymah Single Point Moorings in 2005. These tankers
are each just over 1000 feet in length.

Shown below is a closeup of the darker tanker from above receiving oil. There
are two "hoses" attached to this tanker, whereas there are three attached to the
other.

Tanker loading at Al Juaymah Single Point Mooring.

I haven't found anything recent on loading rates, although SPE 4013-

MS suggests that each (in the late 1970s) was designed for a flow of at 130,000
barrels per hour but averaged only half that in practice.
The operational principle is that ships can rotate independently around the
SPMs, orienting themselves to minimize crosswinds (the two tankers are
pointing northwest, which is the direction that the wind normally comes from:
down the Saudi shore). TheLouisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) in the Gulf of
Mexico operates in the same way as Al Juaymah, albeit in reverse (oil is
pumped out of the tankers).

Finally, the terminal at the Zuluf field, which reportedly ships oil from the
Zuluf and Marjan fields, has only a single SPM. Unfortunately, there are no
high resolution images available from Google Earth that might show whether
this is still operational, and I haven't found any historical information, either.

3) Could that much have been spilled?

700 million gallons is a lot of oil. There were reportedly three sources:

- Oil from the terminal ("unbilical cord")

- Oil from leaking tanker(s)

- Oil from two "gushing" wells, damaged during the melee

The initial spill was from the supply hoses connected to the tanker being
loaded. As seen in the video linked above of a Chiksan loader spewing
gasoline, the flow rates can be quite high. This paper discusses tanker loading
rates at the Al Juaymah terminal. In case of an accident, a lot of oil can flow in
the near term, but there are many ways in which the flow could be stopped,
from shutting valves to turning off pumps to just letting the storage tank run
out. The amount spilled might be enough to incite immediate panic, but
nothing approaching 700 million gallons.

The largest tankers can hold about 2 million barrels, or 84 million gallons.
Four such supertankers leaking out all their oil would yield 336 million
gallons. Now we're getting somewhere. However, with the exception of the one
actually being loaded, the tankers were waiting to be loaded; i.e. they were
empty of oil. Beyond that, it would seem that the only way the first tanker
could have spilled a ship full of oil is if it was a) filled nearly full, and then b)
sank.

This leaves the oil wells. The only realistic scenario would be for a tanker
colliding with a platform connected to two or more wells. A problem is
identifying platforms that could have actually been involved. There are no
wells (or offshore platforms) near Ras Tanura. In contrast, as seen in a map
from earlier, there are a few platforms near the Al Jumayah moorings (at least
there are now -- Qatif was reworked in 2004, so those platforms might not
have been there). However, the nearest of these are for water injectors. The
water gets increasingly shallow further into the field (20 feet deep), so it is not
clear that tankers would have been able to get there. This leaves only the Zuluf
terminal as the only location consistent with the leaking well scenario.

Let's do a simple calculation and assume that of the 700 million gallons
(around 17 million barrels) 2 million leaked from the ship(s) and terminal, and
that the remaining 15 million barrels flowed out at a constant rate from two
wells for six months. This translates to over 40 thousand barrels per day per
well. Now, a deepwater GOM well might do this due to the much higher
pressure, but the reservoir pressures for offshore Saudi fields do not support
this kind of rate, and certainly not for an extended period of time. Early
Ghawar wells flowed at perhaps a third to a fourth of that. And the fields that
could have been involved, Zuluf and Qatif, were not very productive in 1993;
Qatif was essentially dead, and was shut down completely from 1995 until it
was reworked (in 2004).

Worse yet, the assumption of a constant flow over six months is not realistic,
so it would have to be much higher at first. The reservoir pressures involved
(~3000 psi) would not support this flow. It does not seem at all possible to
spill as much oil as in the described scenario. The other side of this question is
whether they could have collected 85% of it. This is rather doubtful as well,
regardless of the amount of oil, because more than 15% would probably have
evaporated in the hot summer.

4) Where did the tankers used to collect the oil come from?

Saudi Arabia has (and had) it's own fleet of tankers. Vela International Marine
Ltd. is a fully-owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco based in Dubai. In 1992, Vela
had just expanded it's capacity by purchasing four used tankers, giving it eight.
In addition, a 1993 merger with the Saudi Arabian Marketing and Refining
Company (SAMAREC) gave it access to four medium range product tankers.

5) How would the oil be separated from the water?

In normal operations, a mixture of oil, gas and water flowing from the wells
and then through pipelines is separated out in Gas Oil Separation Plants. This
is conceptually a simple process, but is rather complicated when undertaken at
the rate necessary to handle the volumes coming from the wells. Saudi GOSPs
are usually not designed to handle high water cuts. In north Ghawar, new
wells were drilled to add new dry oil production to mix with that from existing
high-water-cut wells so as to avoid building more GOSP capacity. There was
likely limited spare GOSP capacity at that time, as Saudi production was fully
ramped up after being throttled back in the late 1980s. Getting oil from the
tankers to GOSPs on shore would not have been easy, either.

6) Is there any evidence of such a spill?

It's not enough to say that they could keep the spill a secret because they are a
"closed society". The Gulf has a lot of ship traffic, both to the main oil ports as
well as near to the Zuluf field. A spill near populated areas would be especially
difficult to conceal. The immediate situation was reportedly chaotic, and the
oil cleanup operation proceeded for six months and beyond. It is hard to
envision how, if this occurred near Ras Tanura, that this could have escaped
notice by people not completely within the Saudi Aramco cone of silence. Al
Juaymah is far enough offshore that cleanup operations might be more
inconspicuous. A big problem would be that dangerous fumes from Qatif wells
(very high sulfur content) would have required public safety measures that
would not have gone unnoticed.

Summer 1993 was just a few years after the Gulf War Spill. There were many
studies undertaken subsequent to that by international research institutions.
Water and sediment samples were taken in many locations around the Gulf,
including near the possible spill sites during the time in question. There are no
reports of any unusual results suggesting a new flow of oil. A studyinvolving
tar ball collection on the Qatari coastline showed hints of some increased
activity, but the noise is rather high and the time correlation a bit loose:

Tar ball accumulation on the Qatari coast, from [ref]. Note: data arbitrarily offset for clarity.

I did find one internet reference to a possible spill in 1993. At an oil spill
workshop and exercise (date unknown), a manager for Bapco, the Bahraini
national oil company, said something interesting:

Mr. Al-Ansari addressed the participants in the closing ceremony and stressed
the importance of time when responding to oil spills.
He added that when he was Incident Commander in 1993 a large oil spill hit
Jeddah Island and if the response then had been five hours sooner, 45% of the
overall costs associated with responding to the oil spill would have been saved.

Jeddah is a small island located between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, looking
something like a posh retreat. It remains to be explained what qualifies as a
"large oil spill", but it is something. Given Bahrain's close relationship with the
rulers of Saudi Arabia, it's likely that no official protest was lodged.

Given the above, it is likely that an oil spill occurred in the Arabian Gulf in
1993. Would the effects from a massive spill be expected to be more
pronounced?

In 1980, a blowout at an offshore well in Saudi Aramco's Hasbah field spewed

oil for 8 days, for a total of 100,000 barrels. However, the Qatari coastline
was affected for months. Hasbah is located southeast of the Zuluf field. Even
though it was claimed that 85% of the oil from the purported spill was
collected, the first few days (before significant oil collection could have
occurred) would have been several times 100,000 barrels, and would have
spread over such a wide area that going unnoticed seems unfathomable.

Lastly, we can look at Saudi Aramco's activities subsequent to this. They have
been quite active in coordinated spill response drills and workshops. Here is
one particular document which discusses many issues:

Saudi Aramco Oil Spill Approach, Prevention, and Readiness

In 1998, Saudi Aramco and the Petroleum Association of Japan

(PAJ) conducted a joint exercise to test a coordinated response to a spill in the
Arabian Gulf. PAJ had been working since 1991 to safeguard the transport of
oil from the Middle East to Asia and had stockpiled oil spill remediation
equipment at the Khafji oil field (shared with Kuwait) in 1994. The interesting
facet is the description of the scenario given in the paper linked above:

The exercise scenario was developed by PAJ a consultant, Mr. Andrew

Crawford of Water born Environmental Limited. The exercise scenario called
for an oil spill involving a tank rupture in a Vela vessel during loading
operations atJu’aymah Terminal, which is located about 10 kilometers
north of the main terminal at Ras Tanura. In addition, the scenario called for
a hose rupture at the loading arm in the terminal, with the
combined total amount of oil spilled coming to about 70,000 barrels. The
resultant slick would then hit the shoreline and spread offshore near the main
Ras Tanura Terminal. Ju’aymah has a major power generation plant at nearby
Ghazlan, which would have to be notified to protect its water intake. The Ras
Tanura Refinery water intake would also be affected. This amount of oil
spillage is higher than the rated capability of Saudi Aramco's oil spill
equipment in the Ras Tanura area.

http://www.parstimes.com/environment/pg_pollution.html

Pollution in Persian Gulf

by Morteza Aminmansour

The Persian Gulf is a 600 – mile body of water. Persian Gulf is the most strategic waterways
in the world due to its importance in the global oil transportation.
Due to the war and high rate of water evaporation, extended drilling and oil extraction,
pollution of the water has increased alarmingly. The Persian Gulf is now one of the sensitive
marine ecosystems.

The Persian Gulf is the presence of coral colonies and plant spices and need clear protection
because of its crucial role in the earth’s life supporting phenomena.
The effects of industrial pollution, oil spills on the marine environment is forcing us to focus
on the problem and the need for coastal conservation.

The Avecina and mangroves plants are among the sea resources that provide an ideal living
environment for shrimp.

The plants living on the seabed near the shore are supporting the marine life such as
dugongs and turtles. The extraction of oil from coastal areas is causing the most important
problem such as pollution.

The eight-year Iraq imposed war against IRAN and KUWAIT inflicted serious damage on
Persian Gulf and its biological resources. Many sea birds and other spices of marine life have
perished because of entering millions tones of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Because the
ecosystem in the Persian Gulf is Vulnerable, regional cooperation among the states is
strongly recommended.
The formation of regional organization for protection the coastline and the marine
environment are required.

The protection of environment cal benefits all countries among the Persian Gulf. I would like
to suggest the monitoring the biodiversity, the marine life of the Persian Gulf.

We experienced serious environmental damage in 1991 Gulf war. The world largest oil spill,
estimated 8 million barrels. The gulf waters in coastal areas of IRAN, KUWAIT, and SAUDI
ARABIA were fouled. The Saudi Arabia had the worst damage. Because the animals and
plants of the seafloor are the basis of the food chain, damage to the shoreline consequences
for the whole shallow- water ecosystem.

The impact of the damage affected the multimillion-dollar Saudi fisheries industry and
surrounding area including Medina al Jubayl. The spill threatened industrial facilities in Al
Jubayl . The greatest pollution was experienced in Abu Ali Island. The large number of
marine birds, such as grebes, cormorants, and auks were killed.

Beaches along the entire Al Jubayl coastline were covered with tar balls and oil. The
exploding and burning of 700 miles oil wells in Kuwait created staggering levels of
atmospheric pollution.
The produced lakes of oil in the Kuwaiti desert equal in volume to twenty times the amount
of the oil that poured into the Persian Gulf. The soot from the Kuwaiti fires was found in the
snows of the Himalayas and in rainfall over Iran and former Soviet Union countries, Turkey
and Oman.

The oil spill and oil fires have affected the water quality, Vegetation, human health as major
sources of environmental damage including toxic materials.
The amount of oil leaked into the Persian Gulf waters during 1991 Gulf War was estimated
in November 1991 between Six and eight million barrels.

In 1998 the accident involved a barge laden with crude oil from Iran that was being towed
by a Dubai-registered tugboat.
The 11,000-ton barge was sinking some eight kilometers of the UAE’s northern coastline.
Some 4,000 tons of leaking crude oil has polluted the sea along the emirates of Ajman,
posing a threat to its water supply. The Gulf region has scare fresh water sources and
depends on desalination plants that purify uncontaminated seawater into drinking water.

The Ajman desalination plant was shut down as a precautionary measure due to the oil slick
that threatened the region. The Persian Gulf’s waters are the home to diverse range of
marine and bird life including five types of turtles, dugongs and dolphins. Oil spills are a
nightmare in the Persian Gulf, the world’s busiest oil channel.
In July 1997, adiesel-carring barge ran aground and spilled more than 5,000 tons of diesels
of the UAE emirate of SHARJAH, contaminating the local water supply.
The worst oil spill in UAE was in 1994 when two super tankers collided of the coast of
Fujairah, resulting in the leakage of some 16,000 tons of crude.

The tanker collisions, tanker washout is among the most illegal activities in the Persian Gulf.
The conservation of the marine environment of the Persian Gulf is highly recommended.

The Major sources of pollution are:

1) Pollution from ships
2) Pollution from Land-based sources
3) Pollution caused by dumping from ships and aircraft
4) Pollution resulting from exploration and exploitation of the bed of the territorial sea, the
continental shelf and the sub-soil thereof.
5) Pollution from other human activities
http://www.itopf.com/knowledge-resources/countries-regions/countries/saudi-arabia/

The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defence and
Aviation is responsible for all environmental matters in the Kingdom, including planning for the
conservation of natural marine and coastal resources. The PME also ensures that reporting, surveillance
and response capabilities are available to deal with spills in Saudi Arabian waters. These are outlined in
the National Contingency Plan for Combating Marine Pollution by Oil and Other Harmful Substances in
Emergencies. This Plan establishes two Area Operations Committees and two Environmental Protection
Coordinating Committees, one of each for the Red Sea coast and for the Gulf Coast. These committees
are chaired by PME with representation from interested authorities including: The Ministry of Interior
(Coast Guard and Civil Defence Authorities); Ministry of Defence and Aviation; Ministry of Petroleum and
Mineral Affairs; Ministry of Industry and Electricity; Ministry of Municipality and Rural Resources; the
Saudi Ports Authority; the General Organisation for Distillation of Saline Water; the Royal Navy and the
Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. Amongst their responsibilities is the preparation of area plans,
including local plans for marine and coastal oil facilities, identification of necessary manpower and
equipment, and training staff in response activities.

Response Policy
Offshore, containment and recovery of oil is the preferred strategy. Dispersants may also be used in
accordance with a code of practice which prohibits their use in shallow waters and near to the intakes of
desalination plants and areas used for aquaculture. The presence of extensive shallow inshore and
coastal waters limits the use of on-water recovery methods, and most plans place emphasis on defensive
booming strategies to protect key shoreline resources.

Equipment
Government

PME holds stocks of equipment in Jubail and Jeddah for responding to spills from shipping
accidents. The Saudi Port Authority holds sizeable amounts of equipment in all Saudi Ports on the Red
Sea and Arabian Gulf. Considerable reliance is placed on industry resources.

Private

The Arabian American Oil Company (SAUDI ARAMCO) holds the largest stock of oil pollution control and
clean-up equipment in the country, including an offshore aerial spraying and mechanical recovery
capability. SAUDI ARAMCO is unique amongst the oil companies in the region in having a full-time oil
spill clean-up group dedicated to the task of pollution control in and around the Company's oil-exporting
terminals. SAUDI ARAMCO is a member of the Regional Clean Sea Organisation (RECSO) (formerly
known as GAOCMAO) and may request assistance from other member companies outside Saudi Arabia
in the event of a major spill. The ports also have sizeable amounts of equipment.
The Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) has sited a small stockpile of response equipment in Ras Al-
Khafji comprising heavy oil skimmers, boom and portable storage tanks.

Previous Spill Experience

Saudi Arabia has experienced a number of moderate-to-large oil spills during the last 10 years,
culminating in the large spill during the Gulf War in 1991. PME and SAUDI ARAMCO coordinated a major
international response effort during which more than one million barrels of oil were recovered from the
shoreline.

http://www.saudilegal.com/saudilaw/18_law.html

The first comprehensive Saudi Arabian national environmental legislation was enacted on 24th September 2001 in

the form of the General Environmental Regulation, Council of Ministers Resolution No. 193. It entered into force on

31st October 2002, and its Implementing Rules were published on 30th September 2003.

Under the Regulation, the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (the “PME”), an agency of the Ministry of

Defence, is charged with the general supervision of environmental affairs in Saudi Arabia.

The legislation sets out wide-ranging prohibitions of pollution and contamination of air, land and water, with

particular reference to all parties involved in services, industry or other economic activities. Owners of “projects”,

which are defined as utilities and facilities which may have an effect on the environment, are required to comply

with existing and future environmental specifications, standards, measurements and guidelines as promulgated by

the PME and set out in the appendices of the Implementing Rules. Moreover, prior to the setting up of a project,

an environmental evaluation study must be completed and approved by the PME.

The detail of the legislation is contained in the appendices of the Implementing Rules, as follows:

Appendix 1: Environmental Protection Standards

Appendix 2: Procedures for the Assessment of Environmental Effects of Industrial and Development Projects

Appendix 3: Manual of Environmental Qualification Procedures

Appendix 4: Rules and Procedures for the Control of Hazardous Waste

Appendix 5: National Contingency Plan for Combatting Pollution by Oil and other Harmful Substances of the Marine

Environment in Emergency Cases

Appendix 6: Violations and Fines

Apart from the above national environmental legislation, the following specific regulations are also applicable
in certain areas of Saudi Arabia:

The Royal Commission for the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu has issued detailed local environmental
 regulations applicable to facilities located within the Royal Commission areas and contractors operating therein, of

which the Jubail Industrial City Royal Commission Environmental Regulations of September 1999 are the most

recent.

Pollution and contamination incidents within ports under the administration of the Saudi Arabian Seaports

Authority are governed by the Rules and Regulations for Seaports of the Co-operation Council for the Arab States

of the Gulf of 1985, as revised in 2006.

Saudi Aramco, which administers the oil loading terminals at Ras Tanura, Ju’aymah and several smaller terminals

independently of the of the Seaports Authority, has its own set of rules entitled “Saudi Aramco, Oil Ports &

Terminals, Rules, Regulations and General Information”.

Saudi Arabia has ratified the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil of 1954

(Oilpol 1954) and its Amendments of 1962, 1969 and 1971, and the International Convention on Civil Liability for
Oil Pollution Damage of 1969 (CLC 1969) and its Protocols of 1976 and 1992.

http://www.ecomagazin.ro/poluarea-marilor-si-oceanelor/

Deteriorarea mediului , desemneaza alterare caracteristicilor sanatatea umana , a vatama resursele

biologice si ecosistemele , a aduce atingeri agrementelor , ori a impiedica alte utilizari legitime ale
mediului .
Potrivit legii 137/1995 ( L.P.M. ), poluantul reprezinta orice substanta solida , lichida, sub forma
gazoasa sau de vapori sau sub forma de energie ( radiatie electromagnetica ionizanta , termica ,
fonica ) care , introdusa in mediu , modifica echilibrul constituientilor acestuia fizico-chimice si
structurale ale componentelor naturale ale mediului , reducerea diversitatii si rezistentei biologice a
ecosistemelor naturale si antropizate , afectarea echilibrului ecologic si al calitatii vietii , toate aceste
fenomene sunt cauzate in principal de poluarea apei , aerului si solului , supraexploatarea resurselor
, gospodarirea si valorificarea lor deficitara ca si prin amenajarea necorespunzatoare a teritoriului .
Poluarea poate fi de doua tipuri :
 poluare naturala ;
 poluare artificiala .
Noi ne vom ocupa in continuare de poluarea artificiala .
Poluarea artificiala
Poluarea artificiala a aparut odata cu dezvoltarea primelor asezari urbane , sub influenta factorului
antropic . Initial , produsele poluante erau putine , de natura organica si usor degradabile de catre
microorganismele mediului ( bacterii si ciuperci ) . Pe masura dezvoltarii industriei , a cresterii
demografice si a modernizarii tehnicii , poluarea s-a extins , poluantii s-au inmultit si au aparut
deseuri greu biodegradabile, ca de exemplu , detergentii , pesticidele de sinteza , deseurile
radioactive . Cand cantitatea de poluanti depaseste cantitatea de neutralizare a mediului ,
ecosistemele sufera un proces de alterare si de distrugere , rezultand zone lipsite total de viata .
I. Poluarea , in functie de natura poluantului , poate fi :
a. fizica – produsa de zgomot ( poluare sonora ) , care poate fi :
 produsa de substante radioactive ( poluare radioactiva ) ;
 produsa de apa calda , praf , particule de carbune .
a. chimica – produsa de compusi gazosi din industrie :
 ionii unor metale grele ;
 pesticidele folosite in agricultura ;
 detergentii .
a. biologica – rezultata din infestarea mediului cu agenti patogeni proveniti din fermentatii , eutrofizarea apelor .
 II. Poluarea dupa mediul in care actioneaza poluantii , poate fi :
 poluarea aerului ;
 poluarea solului ;
 poluarea apei .
Apa , sub multiplele ei forme , reprezinta unul dintre cele mai importante elemente ale peisajului
geografic atat pentru utilizarea directa pentru om , cat si pentru activitatea normala a biosferei , fiind
evident , indispensabila supravietuirii si bunastarii oamenilor . Pana la inceputul sec. XX , cererea de
apa , calitatea acesteia si eficienta utilizarii ei , pareau probleme de importanta secundara . Insa, in a
doua jumatate a sec. XX , populatia globului este intre 6 si 7 miliarde de locuitori , dintre care
jumatate traiesc in mediul urban . Evident , nevoile vitale de apa vor fi pe masura acestei populatii .
Terra dispune de un imens volum de apa. Din suprafata planetei noastre , 510 milioane km2 , ceea
ce reprezinta 70,8 % , iar uscatul , doar 149 milioane km2 , adica 29,2 % . Dupa datele Conferintei
Natiunilor Unite asupra resurselor de apa care s-a tinut la Mar del Plata , volumul total al apei
existente pe Pamant , este apreciat la 1.400 milioane km3 repartizat astfel : volumul total de apa
dulce este doar de 37,8 milioane km3 si nu reprezinta decat 2,7 % din cantitatea de apa a globului .
Pe langa aceasta , trebuie remarcat si faptul ca doar 0,46 % din volumul de apa dulce de pe glob
poate fi utilizata direct , restul de 99,54 % se sustrage utilizarii imediate de catre oameni , deoarece
este reprezentata de vaporii de apa din atmosfera ( 0,04 % ) , ghetari si calote glaciare ( 77,2 % ) ,
apa lacurilor si mlastinilor ( 0,35 % ) , apele subterane si umiditatea solului ( 22,41 % ) si in cursurile
de apa ( 0,01 % ); ea reprezinta doar 0,04 % din totalul apei dulci de pe glob. In total apa dulce
disponibila , nu reprezinta decat 0,009 % din intreaga cantitate de apa de pe pamant . Asadar ,
raportul dintre apa marina si cea continentala este in favoarea celei marine .
Influenta umana asupra oceanelor , variaza dramatic de la un ecosistem la altul . Cele mai afectate
zone sunt recifele de corali , iarba marina , crangurile de mangrove , recifele si platformele
stancoase . Cele mai putine afectate ecosisteme , sunt zonele cu fund malos si zonele de suprafata
din larg .
Poluarea afecteaza toate oceanele globului , dar apele de coasta sunt mai afectate decat cele din
largul marilor , deoarece acolo exista , in prezent , mult mai multe surse de poluare , de la instalatiile
industriale de coasta pana la transportul maritim mai intens .
De mai bine de doua decenii , degradarea mediului marin capata un aspect global , iar in unele zone
, se intensifica in mod periculos .
Amenintarea majora pentru sanatatea , productivitatea si biodiversitatea mediului marin , provine din
activitatea umana desfasurata in zonele de coasta si insulare . Mai mult de 80 % din incarcatura
poluanta provine din scurgeri , din evacuari ale activitatilor economice : industriale , agricole ,
turistice , orasenesti . Zonele de coasta si insulare reprezinta zone economice producatoare de
materii prime , bunuri materiale si de interes turistic . Conform comisiei de experti in domeniul
protectiei mediului marin ( GPA ) , valoarea totala a bunurilor si serviciilor din zonele ecosistemelor
marine , este dubla fata de a acelora provenite din ecosistemele terestre de interior . Aproape un
miliard de oameni locuiesc in mod curent in centrele urbane din zonele de coasta . Existenta lor
depinde de sanatatea si productivitatea ecosistemelor costiere . Poluarea mediului marin ,
distrugerea habitatelor submineaza folosirea durabila a marilor , oceanelor si zonelor de coasta ,
afecteaza sanatatea umana prin contactul direct al populatiilor cu apele poluate sau prin consumul
surselor nutritive marine contaminate .
Oamenii vor folosi intotdeauna oceanele pentru recreere , extractia de resurse si pentru activitati
comerciale . Scopul protectiei mediului marin actual , este sa facem aceste lucruri intr-un mod
sustenabil , astfel incat , oceanele sa ramana intr-o stare de sanatate optima si sa continue sa
furnizeze resursele pe care le dorim si care ne sunt necesare .
Recunoasterea amenintarilor create de amplificarea poluarii marine , a condus la initierea in 1995 la
Washington a Programului G.lobal de Actiune ( GPA ) pentru protectia mediului marin .
Programul a apreciat existenta si manifestarea a noua categorii de surse poluante :
 ape uzate de canalizare ;
 pesticide ;
 substante radioactive ;
 metale grele ;
 hidrocarburi ( produse petroliere ) ;
 nutrienti ;
 sedimente ( aluviuni ) ;
 gunoaie ( deseuri menajere ) ;
 alterarea fizica si distrugerea habitatelor .
In anul 2006 , oficiul de coordonare al programului GPA , a publicat un raport asupra starii mediului
marin , raport in care se evidentiaza tendintele , masurile si progresele realizate in corelatie cu
sursele de poluare mentionate si cu dezvoltarea economica in diverse regiuni ale OCEANULUI
MONDIAL .
Lucrarea elaborata in continuare , prezinta efectele comparative ale celor noua surse de poluare
nominalizate de GPA in urmatoarea succesiune zonala :
 OCEANUL ARCTIC ;
 ACEANUL ATLANTIC cu zona Caraibelor si zonele Africii de Vest , Centrale si de Sud ;
 OCEANUL PACIFIC cu zonele Asiei de Est ;
 OCEANUL INDIAN cu zona Asiei de Sud , zona Golfului Persic , zona Africii de Est ;
 MAREA NEAGRA
In limitele lucrarii si a literaturii consultate , nu au fost abordate zonele Atlanticului de Nord-Vest , de
Nord-Est si Sud-Vest , zonele Pacificului de Nord si Centrale , a Australiei , coastele antarctice si
Marea Mediterana , urmand ca acestea sa faca subiectul unor studii de perspectiva .
Istoria cercetarii in domeniul poluarii marilor si oceanelor , este legata de cercetarea in general a
Oceanului Planetar , astfel , majoritatea tarilor din zonele costiere si-au infiintat de-a lungul timpului
diverse forme institutionale adecvate , la diverse nivele de organizare – institute , centre , statiuni si
laboratoare de cercetari marine si oceanografice . Initial profilul activitatii acestora cuprindea
cercetarea in domeniile biologiei , hidrologiei fizice si chimice , resurse marine si valorificarea
acestora . Intre aceste formatiuni stiintifice s-au dezvoltat relatii de colaborare , mai ales la nivel
regional , dar uneori acoperind si domenii geografice mai largi – de exemplu colaborarea stiintifica
intre INCDM Grigore Antipa cu institutii similare din bazinul Marii Negre : Odesa , Sevastopol , Kerci
, Batumi , Instanbul , Varna , cu Institutul de Oceanografie Monaco ( pentru Mediterana ) si Institulul
Oceanografic de la Woodshole SUA – Oceanul Atlantic .
Poluarea marina apare de-odata cu prezenta umana in zonele costiere , dar manifestarile pregnante
apar in a doua jumatate a sec. XX . Diversitatea surselor de poluare , a efectelor acestora ca
intindere si intensitate , au declansat semnalul de alarma care a condus , pe de-o parte la
modificarea si adaptarea preocuparilor de cercetare la noile cerinte , iar pe de alta parte la intarirea
colaborarii dintre formatiunile de cercetare care capata caracter institutionalizat in cadrul unor
programe de cercetare regional , zonal , nationale si internationale .
Exemplificativ in acest sens , este evolutia si diversificarea activitatilor de cercetare la INCDM
Grigore Antipa Constanta .
Initial , Institutul Roman de Cercetari Marine ( IRCM ) Constanta , a fost fondat la 30.03.1970 prin
unificarea institutiilor de cercetare marina existente la acea data in Romania . Aceasta se
reorganizeaza in anul 1999 ca Institut National de Cercetare Dezvoltare Marina Grigore Antipa (
INCDM ) . Institutul este mostenitorul unei traditii marcata prin continuitatea de 80 de ani de
oceanologie , plecandu-se de la anul 1926 , apoi 1932 , momente de infiintare a primelor institutii de
cercetare marina create de prof. Ioan Borcea , respectiv prof. Grigore Antipa . In prezent , se
constituie intr-o institutie nationala reprezentativa , avand structura pluridisciplinara si
interdisciplinara . Institutul are ca obiect principal de activitate , efectuarea de cercetari fundamentale
, aplicative , de dezvoltare tehnologica in domeniile ecologiei , protectiei mediului marin ,
oceanografiei , ingineriei marine , precum si al gestionarii resurselor vii din Marea Neagra si din
Oceanul Mondial .
 Prin atributele conferite de actul de infiintare , INCDM este operatorul tehnic al retelei nationale de
monitoring fizico-chimic , biologic , al apelor marine si de supraveghere a eroziunii costiere .
Institutul are diverse sarcini in cadrul organismelor internationale UNESCO , CIESM , FAO , CGPM ,
CECAF , NATO , GEF , si ACCOBAMS .
In domeniul poluarii si protectiei mediului , Institutul are programe complete :
 Monitoringul integrat al mediului marin si costier sub coordonarea MMGA ;
 Conservarea ecosistemului marin , promovarea utilizarii sale durabile ( MedC ) ;
 Protectia si dezvoltarea durabila a resurselor marine vii ;
 Radioactivitate si radioecologie marina ( AIEA / LRM Monaco ).
Colaborarea intre institute a facut posibila si realizarea suportului organizatoric si legislativ al luptei
impotriva poluarii ca fenomen , ca manifestare si a efectelor sale , iar in acest sens se mentioneaza
infiintarea in 1995 la Washintong a PROGRAMULUI GLOBAL DE ACTIUNE PENTRU PROTECTIA
MEDIULUI MARIN care a stabilit categoriile de surse poluante si de la care au decurs in continuare
programele zonale , regionale si internationale de protectia mediului marin .

Zona Golfului Persic

Fig.14. Golful Persic

Fig.15. Distributia ( % ) generatoarelor centralelor electrice din Regiunea Marina ROPMyyyyyE.

Regional Organization for the Marine Environment (ROPME) – Organizatia Nationala Pentru
Protejarea Mediului Marin include Golful Persic , o zona imprejmuita de 8 state: Bahrein, Iran, Irak,
Kuweit, Oman, Qatar, Arabia Saudita, Emiratele Arabe Unite.
ROPME este o zona foarte vulnerabila in ceea ce priveste poluarea ca o consecinta a modului lor de
viata; exista multe surse de poluare, adancimile mici ale apelor care asigura alimentarea populatiei
si de asemene , a sistemelelor de pompare al apei uzate.
Odata cu dezvoltarea industriei si prin cresterea populatiei s-a produs un proces rapid de urbanizare
astfel incat 40 % din totalul populatiei de aici traieste in zonele de coasta ale marilor. Aici exista 20
de mari centre industriale care reprezinta un mare rol pentru mediu .
Impactul pe care il are scurgerea apelor uzate (sistemul de canalizare), scurgerile provenite din
industrie, in special cele provenite din industria petrochimica si cea provenita de la rafinariile de
petrol este semnificativ. In plus centralele energetice cauzeaza poluarea termica. Emisiile de gaze
produse de centrale produc modificarea grava a aerului atmosferic , iar modificarea nivelului de
salinitate si incalzirea apei marii este o consecinta a incalzirii globale.
Drenarea si imbunatatirea pemanenta a terenurilor pentru agricultura afecteaza grav factorii de
mediu .
Sursele de poluare si impactul asupra mediului marin :
Hidrocarburile si alti produsi chimici
Zona marilor RSA este considerata a fi zona cu cel mai inalt grad de poluare cu petrol si alte
hidocarburi din lume. Aceasta se datoreaza in principal instalatiilor petroliere din largul marilor care
foreaza petrolul , uzinelor de prelucrare si transportului de nave petroliere care tranziteaza aceasta
zona.
Conform cu SOMER Oil Spill Intelligence Report , 6 dintre cele 20 de contaminari care au avut loc la
nivel mondial, s-au petrecut in zona ROPME unde mai mult de 10 mil. tone de substante au fost
deversate de-a lungul anilor. Incidentele poluarii cu petrol provenite din surse externe , sunt totusi la
scara mica comparativ cu scurgerile de petrol provenite de la spargerea conductelor subacvatice
care sunt mult mai frecvente. Aproximativ 2 mil. de barili de petrol sunt emanati in mediul marin
anual de la deversarile cu apa infestata de la tancuri , precum si de la platformele petroliere si de
gaz din largul marilor. (Hinrichsen 1996).
Intre 1998 si 2002 , 25 de astfel de incidente au fost raportate in zona RSA. Impactul pe care l-a
avut poluarea cu petrol a putut fi observat atat in sedimentele marine si viata subacvatica, cat si in
zonele plajelor si de-a lungul regiunilor de coasta. Impactul negativ a fost resimtit de mangrove,
recifele de corali , fitoplanctonul si la pescuit.
Exista o nevoie urgenta de a stabili pierderile din terminalele petroliere si de a proteja mediul marin
de la operatiunile de descarcare a petrolului din tancurile petroliere , nave comerciale si porturi .
RMS sprijit de ROMPE , coordoneaza impreuna cu IMO fata de ratificarea Conventiei de la
MARPOL , declararea zonei RSA ca „zona speciala” .
Trebuie specificat , ca desi RMS a luat hotararea de a declara RSA Zona Speciala a Marii ( Special
Sea Aria ) , poluarea petroliera din transport , operatiuni offshore si activitati de incarcare-descarcare
din porturi , continua .
Odata cu ratificarea MARPOL 73/78 , cu adoptarea si implementarea a altor regulamente mondiale
cum ar fi: Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response, and Co-operation (OPRC),
Convetion on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage ( CLC ), in regiune s-au luat masuri pentru
protejarea mediului marin de poluare cu petrol precum si alte forme de poluare.
Aceste implementari trebuie insa sprijinite de o legislatie solida care sa prevada clar , pedepse
pentru cei care nu le respecta.
Analizele marine privind petrolul si alti compusi hidrocarbonati in diferite zone ale RSA , incluzand
zonele de coasta si zonele din largul marilor, au fost facute de multi oameni de stiinta in ultimele 2
decade. Rezultatele au fost publicate in rapoarte internationale. La nivel national s-a constatat ca in
Kuwait , Oman si Qatar , programele de monitorizare au aratat ca nivelul de petrol si hidrocarburi din
apele teritoriale si sedimente , este ridicat .
La nivel regional , ROPME s-a afiliat cu Atomic Energy Agency pentru eliminarea contaminarii cu
substante. Au fost stabilite exact regiunile care au factor mare de poluare si cele care au risc mai
redus. Studiul a fost facut pe 35 de state din regiune .
Fig.16. Procentul de petrol exportat din zona maritima a Golfului Persic
Degradarea fizica
Pagubele fizice si distrugerea de habitate este principala problema din aceasta regiune. Multe
proiecte de dezvoltare din acesta zona au dus la imbunatatirea unei suprafete mari de coasta.
Rapida crestere a turismului si a navigatiei influenteaza aceasta regiune.
Partea nordica si estica a regiunii este caracterizata de sedimentele de noroi care sunt aduse de
Tigru , Eufrat , Karun si Hileh. Partea vestica si sudica , se caracterizeaza prin sedimentele de nisip ,
in plus se gasesc corali si depuneri de piatra. Apele sunt putin adanci , iar curentii slabi limiteaza
fluxul si refluxul. Dragarea si umplerea terenurilor ar putea duce la distrugerea habitatelor de coasta.
Eroziunea coastei este evidenta in unele parti ale regiunii si este rezultatul unui proces natural si
duce la schimbarea liniei de tarm.
Degradarile fizice si distrugerea habitatelor marine au impact negativ asupra recifelor de corali si
bancurilor de pesti. In plus, distrugerea habitatelor datorita alterarii fizice, a schimbarii cursului
raurilor , drenarea mlastinilor, dragarea, au contribuit semnificativ la micsorarea bancurilor de pesti
care constituiau hrana pentru pasarile migratoare, mamiferelor, reptilelor precum si la distrugerea
altor habitate ecologice cum ar fi mangrovele , bancurile de stridii . De asemenea , s-au distrus
multe specii de pesti de apa dulce , pasari .
Fig.17. Distributia ( % ) a productiei centralelor privind desalinizarea

Sistemele de canalizare
Deversarea apelor se face pe doua cai si anume pe calea directa prin deversarea de ape menajere,
ape provenite din activitati industriale si indirect prin aducerea de ape poluante de catre rauri.
Cantitatea totala de apa menajera care se deverseaza in mediul marin tratata sau netratata variaza
intre 750-950 mil. m3 /an .
Pentru limitarea consumului de apa , autoritatile au adoptat un sistem de legi prin care s-a hotarat
tratarea apei folosite si refolosirea ei.
In Kuweit aproximativ 70 % din apa tratata este deversata in mare. Exista centrale de tratare a apei
nefolositoare , sase dintre ele functioneaza la capacitatea de 8.000-15.000 m3 /zi ca si in Oman ,
spre exemplu .Aceste centrale genereaza aproape 29 mil. de tone de apa/an , iar marea parte din
apa tratata este folosita la irigatii in activitati industriale , iar 0,25 mil. m 3 este deversata in mare.
Fiecare stat are propriul sau sistem de drenare si tratare a apei , insa factorul de poluare este destul
de ridicat datorita activitatilor intensive care se desfasoara aici .
Deversarile prin rauri sunt o alta sursa de poluare. Raurile sunt localizate in special in partea de nord
si de est a regiunii RSA cu un debit anul de 3.250 m3 /s .
Centralele energetice au de asemenea un impact important asupra mediului marin. Activitatea
centralelor produc emantii de substante toxice: Cu , Fe , Ni , Zn uleiuri , fosfati. Aceste deversari
afecteaza grav calitatea apei in zonele de coasta si viata marina .
Nutrientii
In Regiunea RSA , cantitatea de nutrienti este destul de redusa , dar totusi inaltul nivel de productie
industriala din zona raurilor din partea de nord si de est produc un oarecare risc. Cei mai toxici
nutrienti in aceste zone sunt amoniacurile si nitritii. In apele teritoriale ale Kuweitului cantitatea de
nitriti, fosfati si silicati este destul de scazuta , arata un studiu pentru perioada 1986-2004 .
In anul 2003 , ROPME a realizat o statie de monitorizare prin satelit , care detecteaza activitatile
care au loc in zonele de coasta si efectele lor asupra mediului marin. O imagine recenta a studiului
arata cresterea planctonului in nordul si estul regiunii RSA , o alta imagine arata modificarea
biologica a algelor in apropierea Qatarului care ar putea fi atribuita deversarilor de ape poluante in
aceasta zona .
Analizele si interpretarile acestor date si comparatia cu alte date existente , au dus la luarea unor
masuri si adoptarea unor planuri pentru conservarea si protejarea mediului marin .
O alta problema importanta o reprezinta amenajarea plajelor prin limitarea actiunilor dezorganizate.
Eforturile de curatire si protejare a plajelor apartin voluntarilor. Unele state au implementat deja
programe pentru protejarea mediului marin .
Compusii din atmosfera
Instalatiile industriale, incluzand rafinariile de petrol , platformele petroliere si petrochimice,
centralele producatoare de energie, precum si de la motoarele autovehiculelor , sunt principalele
surse de poluare cu compusi din atmosfera. Cele mai semnificative insa , sunt emanatiile de gaze
produse de rafiinarii, din activitatea de prelucrarea a petrolului .
Emisiile de carbon variaza intre 5,6 mil. tone in Emiratele Arabe Unite si 90,1 mil. tone in Iran cu un
total de 177,5 mil. tone in intreaga regiune .
O alta sursa de poluare in RSA , o reprezinta furtunile de nisip (praf) care vin din aproape toate
directiile si care de asemenea afecteaza mediul marin in timpul ultimelor doua decade . RSA a fost
afectata indirect si de razboaie precum Razboiul din Golf si din Irak in care o mare cantitate de petrol
a fost distrusa , iar gazele provenite din arderi au fost emanate in atmosfera, asa cum SO2 a trecut in
mediul marin. Cam 20.000 tone de SO2 a fost emanat in Kuweit prin arderile masive de petrol care
au durat aproape 7 luni .
Metalele grele
Poluarea cu metale grele a mediului marin se face prin emisia de substante prin activitatile
industriale , prin cele provenite de la centralele energetice , centralele de desalinizare, prin compusii
din aer si cei adusi de vant.
S-a constatat existenta unor compusi de Cu, Cd, Cr, Ni, V, arsenic, mercur, TBT, prin diferitele
programe de monitorizare. Un nivel ridicat al concentratiei de metale grele , au fost descoperite in
zonele puternic industrializate si in unele porturi.
O mare cantitate de Cd a fost detectat in corpul pestilor in zona de sud a Oman si o cantitatea
insemnata de Hg in musculatura speciilor ce servesc ca hrana pentru pestii carnivori. In Arabia
Saudita au fost raportate cantitati relative mari de Cd, Cu, si Ag rezultata din activitatile industriale .
Substante radioactive
Substantele radioactive patrund in mediul marin direct sau indirect , ca rezultat a activitatii umane in
toate sectoarele si include poluarea energetica, prin prelucrarea titeiului pentru producerea
combustibilului, operttiunile militare, testele nucleare si alte teste medicale . Alte activitati cum ar fi ,
transportul de substante radioactive reprezinta un mare risc pentru sanatatea oamenilor si asupra
mediul inconjurator.
Informatiile despre substantele toxice radioactive nu sunt foarte multe in aceasta regiune. Din 1994 ,
s-a constatat existenta unor concentratii de Cs, Pu,Po in sedimentele colectate din Kuweit , Bahrein
si UAE . Valorile variaza de la o regiune la alta , insa fiecare in parte este un mare risc de poluare si
afecteaza grav mediul marin si toate ecosistemele.

http://www.slideshare.net/aritonadela/prezentare-chimie-adela

Efectele petrolului <ul><li>In secolul 20 întreaga civilizaţie si industrie s-au bazat pe energia
furnizata de petrol. Rezervele de titei au dus insa la conflicte internaţionale, iar utilizarea lui a
cauzat poluare si daune mediului înconjurător. Petrolul se compune in principal din substanţe
numite hidrocarbonaţi, molecule formate din doua elemente chimice, hidrogen si carbon
alături de alte substante. Petrolul poate lua diferite forme, precum si titeiul lichid si gazele
naturale sau o substanţa groasa, vâscoasa, numita asfalt sau bitum. </li></ul>
Formare <ul><li>Procesele de formare a petrolului au avut loc in urma cu milioane de ani.
Cea mai mare parte a titeiului din centrul si nordul Marii Nordului s-a format din alge ( plante
unicelulare ) si bacterii îngropate in mal si nămol, pe fundul marii, in perioada jurasica ( acum
144-213 milioane de ani ). Materia îngropata a putrezit si a fost transformata in titei de către
căldura si presiune, care a comprimat in acelaşi timp si malul si nămolul, transformându-le in
straturi de roca. Picăturile de titei s-au infiltrat in jos prin rocile permeabile, roci continand
pori sau crăpături prin care pot pătrunde lichidele sau gazele. .Titeiul si-a continuat drumul
pana când a întâlnit un strat impermeabil sau solid.
Importanta petrolului .Titeiul este important deoarece este mai curat si mai ieftin decât
cărbunele si mai uşor de transportat decât gazele naturale. El are nenumărate utilizări.
Uneori numit ,,Aurul Negru” , el asigura aproape jumătate din energia utilizata in lume. Fara
acesta transporturile s-ar bloca, iar maşinile si utilajele industriale sau centralele termice nu
ar funcţiona.
Efecte negative ale petrolului .Utilizarea petrolului provoacă poluări masive ale aerului in
multe oraşe. Gazele de eşapament evacuate de autoturisme si de alte maşini cu combustie
interna conţin gaze otrăvitoare cum ar fi monoxidul de carbon, hidrocarburi nearse, oxizi de
azot si plumb. Unii dintre aceşti agenţi de poluare reactioneaza cu lumina soarelui
producând acel smog neplăcut, fotochimic, care pluteşte deasupra multor oraşe, cum ar fi
Los Angeles sau Mexico City. Atunci când oxizii de azot se combina cu apa din nori ia
naştere ploaia acida care poluează lacurile si râurile, distrugând si pădurile. S-au făcut paşi
importanţi pentru a micşora efectul dăunător al gazelor de eşapament. Se produce benzina
fara plumb, iar unele maşini sunt dotate cu filtre catalice, care transforma gazele nocive in
gaze inofensive. Insa eficienta acestor imbunatatiri este diminoata de creşterea cererii de
 petrol. Unii experţi au estimat ca rezervele descoperite reprezintă apoximativ o treime din
rezervele existente la ora actuala sub scoarţa Pamantului.

http://ecoprofit.ro/poluare-golful-persic-petrol-incalzire-globala/

Orientul Mijlociu, locul de unde provine cea mai mare parte a petrolului pe care
îl consumă omenirea. Un loc plin de istorie, dar și de conflicte. Acum este locul
unde sălășluiește cea mai periculoasă grupare teroristă a momentului, ISIS. Și
locul de unde milioane de imigranți pleacă speriați de războiul din Siria, sute de
mii dintre aceștia invadând pur și simplu Europa. O Europă rămasă fără glas în
urma recentului atac terorist din Paris.

Ei bine, Orientul Mijlociu are un viitor sumbru, conform unei lucrări publicate de
doi profesori, Elfatih Eltahir de la MIT, respectiv Jeremy Pal de la Universitatea
Loyola Marymount. Și nu din cauze politice, sociale sau economice. Pur și
simplu, din cauza schimbărilor climatice, dar și a condițiilor speciale de
mediu din această parte a lumii.

Regiunea Golfului Persic este un adevărat ”hotspot” pe fondul lipsei formelor

mai accentuate de relief, a cerului foarte senin, care duce la acumularea unor
cantități mari de căldură la nivelul solului, dar și la nivelul mării, acest lucru
ducând și la creșterea umidității din cauza evaporării apei din mare. Toate
aceste lucruri duc la crearea unor condiții greu de suportat pentru om. Ca
idee, corpul uman poate suporta temperaturi exterioare de maximum 35 de
grade Celsius, în condiții de umiditate scăzută spre medie, pe o perioadă de
circa 6 ore. Odată depășite aceste limite, metabolismul uman nu mai poate face
față, chiar și în condiții de umbră și spații ventilate.

Cei doi cercetători au realizat modele de mare acuratețe, privind evoluția

condițiilor climatice în Orientul Mijlociu, în special în zona Golfului Persic. Iar
concluzia lor este că, dacă se continuă în stilul business-as-usual cu
poluarea, după jumătatea acestui secol zona avută în vedere va deveni
nelocuibilă. Deoarece temperaturile este de așteptat să depășească frecvent
media zilnică de 35 de grade. Iar zilele toride de vară (care acum survin la
intervale de circa 20 de zile) vor deveni o normalitate, ceea ce va afecta din plin
viața în zonă.

De altfel, în această vară, pe data de 31 iulie, în orașul iranian Bandahr

Mashrahr a fost înregistrată, pentru circa o oră, o temperatură de 34,6
grade Celsius, care, în combinație cu gradul de umiditate neobișnuit, a
provocat probleme serioase locuitorilor. Este adevărat, în deșertul iranian
Dasht-e Lut a fost înregistrată cea mai ridicată temperatură de pe Pământ, de
70 de grade Celsius.

Conform estimărilor, marile metropole din Peninsula Arabică vor deveni nelocuibile după jumătatea acestui
secol, dacă nu se iau măsuri pentru limitarea poluării

Paradoxal sau nu, studiul de față ne arată că efectele cele mai mari
asupra vieții umane, cauzate de schimbările climatice provocate de
poluare, vor avea loc tocmai în zona de unde provine
majoritatea petrolului prin arderea căruia se produce o mare parte din
încălzirea globală. Deci este de așteptat ca, peste circa 40-50 de ani, să
asistăm la o migrație masivă din Golful Persic, care ar depăși cu mult ca
magnitudine actuala criză a imigranților din Siria. Pe scurt, dacă nu se
iau măsuri serioase pentru limitarea sau chiar stoparea poluării,
urmează să asistăm și la crize sociale de neimaginat din cauza
schimbărilor climatice.

http://785.ro/wp-content/uploads/efectele-deversarilor-de-petrol-asupra-mediului-acvatic-.pdf

Petrolul este combustibilul cel mai important al societăţii noastre dar şi sursa principală pentru produşi
ca materiale sintetice plastice, uleiuri lubrifiante, bitum etc.Petrolul reprezintă un pericol pentru mediu
acvatic datorită scurgerilor în oceane din timpul transportului, scurgeri care se ridică anual la câteva
milioane de tone/an.Oceanele au fost considerate multă vreme calea cea mai uşoară de diluare a
rezidurilor industriale şi municipale care s-au şi depozitat în ele . Constituenul principal al petrolului îl
reprezintă hidrocarburile (50-90%) formate din n-alcani, alcani ramificaţi, cicloalcani şi hidrocarburi
aromatice (20%). O parte din hidrocarburile aromatice sunt din clasa PAH-urilor din care benzopirenul
este preponderent. Alţi constituenţi sunt compuşi polari ce conţin heteroatomi ca O, N, S. Compuşii
sulfului sunt numeroşi ca de exemplu: H2S, R-SH, R-S-R şi derivaţi tiofenici. Dintre proprietăţile fizice ale
petrolului pentru mediu sunt importante densitatea mai mică decât unu ce va face ca pata de petrol să
pluteasca la suprafaţa apei întinzându-se pe suprafeţe mare (grosimea stratului de petrol pe apă este de
0,1 mm) , solubilitatea şi volatilitatea. Petrolul formează cu apa emulsii : petrol/apa şi apa/petrol.Gustul
hidrocarburilor petroliere este foarte neplăcut pentru fiinţa umană .Toate componentele ţiţeiului sunt
biodegradabile doar că vitezele sunt foarte diferite.Atât ţiţeiul cât şi produsul rafinat conţin o varietate
de compuşi toxici. Compuşii cu masa moleculară mică nu sunt foarte periculoşi pentru apă deoarece se
evaporă foarte repede. Compuşii cu masa moleculară mare sunt puţin periculoase.Cei mai periculoşi
sunt compuşii cu masa moleculară medie cum ar fi motorina.Pentru apele portuare limita pentru
hidrocarburi dizolvate nu trebuie să exceadă 0,03 ppm.

De-a lungul timpului, catastrofele ecologice provocate de deversările masive de petrol au fost mai mult
decât numeroase. Surprinse pe mare de futună, petrolierele şi-au pierdut busola ori au fost avariate,
prin ciocnire accidentală, de alte vase aflate pe mare, lasând în urma lor pete imense, care nu au mai
putut fi şterse, uneori, ani în şir.Petrolul, care este insolubil în apa şi mult mai uşor decât aceasta, nu a
putut fi strâns, uneori, din cauza furtunilor puternice, care nu au permis accesul barjelor de salvare la
vasele avariate sau, pur şi simplu, statele riverane zonelor maritime în care s-au produs accidentele nu
au fost pregătite pentru a face faţă catastrofelor.În cazurile fericite, petrolul a putut fi împiedicat să nu
ajungă la mal prin iscusinţa marinarilor care au reuşit, în timp util, să recupereze şi să stocheze în
rezervoarele neafectate, aflate pe vas, o mare parte din combustibilul scurs în momentul accidentării. Cu
toate acestea, ţiţeiul nerecuperat, rămas la suprafaţa apei, se întinde rapid şi formează o pătură
uleioasă, destul de groasă, care pluteşte multă vreme în larg, afectând fauna şi flora din preajma. Pentru
a curaţa apele de petrolul deversat în urma accidentelor, prima masură care poate fi luată este izolarea
zonei cu ajutorul ambarcaţiunilor de salvare. Dacă pompele aflate pe vas sunt în stare de funcţionare şi
există rezervoare neavariate, petrolul poate fi recuperat din apă prin pompare şi restocat. Această
operaţiune, dacă nu este împiedicată de furtună, nu poate şterge definitiv urmele catastrofei.De cele
mai multe ori, specialiştii apelează tot la substanţe chimice, denumite solvenţi, care sunt împrăştiate din
elicopter pe suprafeţele afectate. Aceşti solvenţi sunt destinaţi spălării apelor, dar, la rândul lor, măresc
efectele poluării şi nici nu pot fi împrăştiaţi uniform pe suprafeţele afectate de deversările accidentale
de petrol. În consecinţa, ecosistemele marine sunt expuse, astfel, unei duble poluări. Un litru de petrol,
odată ajuns pe suprafaţa apei, formează o pată a cărei mărime poate atinge dimensiunile unei jumătăţi
dintr-un teren de fotbal. Grosimea acestor pete este variabilă, în funcţie de cantitatea de combustibil
deversată.

Zona mărilor RSA( Regiunea Arabia Saudita) este considerată a fi zona cu cel mai înalt grad de poluare cu
petrol şi alte hidocarburi din lume. Aceasta se datorează în principal instalaţiilor petroliere din largul
mărilor care forează petrolul , uzinelor de prelucrare şi transportului de nave petroliere care tranzitează
aceasta zonă. Petrolul scurs în urma accidentului petrolier de la platforma Deepwater Horizen în aprilie
2010 a rămas pe fundul oceanului şi distruge viaţa marină, arată un raport recent

O echipă de cercetători de la Institutul de Cercetări Ştiinţifice din Spania a descoperit că anumite bacterii
de pe coasta Galiţiei sunt capabile să elimine în mod natural petrolul deversat în timpul naufragiilor.
Experţii în domeniu au observat că aceste vieţuitoare minuscule, aflate în ecosistemul marin, pot
degrada în mod natural compuşii petrolului.Odată deversate în mare, hidrocarburile suportă diverse
transformări, printre care cea mai importantă este biodegradarea. Cu toate ca numeroşi compuşi ai
petrolului sunt în mare parte biodegradabili, există totuşi elemente chimice, ce intră în componenţa
acestui combustibil, care sunt dificil de eliminat. Pentru studiul lor, oamenii de ştiinţă au luat probe
dintr-o zona afectată şi le-au analizat în laborator.În paralel, au reconstituit artificial condiţiile de
poluare cu petrol şi au comparat ambele situaţii. Rezultatele obţinute în primul caz au confirmat
existenţa bacteriilor şi contribuţia acestora la degradarea ţiţeiului. În al doilea caz, procesul degradării,
deşi existent, a fost mult mai lent, nereuşindu-se decât parţial curăţarea apei în care a fost vărsat
petrolul în condiţii de laborator.

https://prisacarudaniela.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/petrolul/

Utilizarea petrolului provoaca poluari masive ale aerului in multe

orase. Gazele de esapament evacuate de autoturisme si de alte
masini cu combustie interna contin gaze otravitoare cum ar fi
monoxidul de carbon, hidrocarburi nearse, oxizi de azot si plumb.
Unii dintre acesti agenti de poluare reactioneaza cu lumina soarelui
producand acel smog neplacut, fotochimic, care pluteste deasupra
multor oras, cum ar fi Los Angeles sau Mexico City. Atunci cand
acizii de azot se combina cu picaturile de apa din nori, ia nastere
ploaia acida care polueaza lacurile si raurile, distrugand si padurile.
S-au facut pasi importanti pentru a micsora efectul gazelor de
esapament. Se produce benzina fara plumb, iar unele masini sunt
dotate cu filtre catalitice care transforma gazele nocive in gaze
inofensive. Insa eficienta acestor imbunatatiri este diminuate de
cresterea consumului de petrol.

Poluarea apei cu reziduuri petroliere reprezinta o problema deosebit de

importanta si greu de prevenit si remediat . Afecteaza atat apele de
suprafata , cat si pe cele subterane . In prezent , acest gen de poluare
a devenit ubicvitar , iar consecintele ei asupra proprietatilor
organoleptice ale apei , faunei si florei acvatice sunt deosebit de
nocive si durabile .
Reziduurile de petrol ajung in bazinele naturale de apa prin
deversarea de ape reziduale rezultate de la rafinarii , uzini de cracare
si alte instalatii de prelucrare a titeilui . Aceste reziduuri conduc la
cresterea temperaturii si turbiditatii , la formarea unei pelicule de
petrol la suprafata apei sau a unor emulsii ( apa- petrol sau petrol-
apa ) si la schimbarea compozitiei apei , prin dizolvarea in aceasta a
substantelor petroliere solubile , toxice in anumite concentratii ,
pentru organismele acvatice , om si animale .

Indicatorii de poluare cu reziduuri petroliere sunt substantele

extractibile, ca indicatori chimic global, ce evidentiaza totalitatea
reziduurilor si germenii petrol oxidanti , ca indicator bacteriologic
care, folosind pentru dezvoltarea lor substantele petroliere , se
inmultesc cu atat mai puternic, cu cat acest substrat este in cantitate
mai mare. Germenii petrol-oxidanti sunt in acelasi timp si indicatori
de autopurificare de reziduuri petroliere .