The Regional Clean Sea Organization (Recso) conducted a three-day training course on “Oil Spill & Emergency Response Management – Environmental Impact Analyses & Contingency Planning” which was held at the Towers Rotana Hotel, Dubai, UAE from the 26th till 28th September 2010.

The three-day training course was developed for personnel with management and environmental responsibility and particularly those involved in the development or implementation for Contingency Plans and the interpretation of EIA’s.

A number of topics were taught including; Sources of Oil in the Marine Environment; Behavior and Fate of Oil; The Contingency Planning Process; The Environmental Impacts of an Oil Spill; What is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA); The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Process; Identification of Environmental Impacts; Table Top Exercise “Identification of Impacts”; Benefits of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Process; Effective Utilization of a Contingency Plan in an Oil Spill; Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA); The Role of EIA in Disaster Response; Environmental Impact of Response Strategies; Case Studies; and Table Top Exercises.

Participants were from a wide range of organizations and locations including; Kuwait Oil Company (KOC); Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (TAKREER); Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco); Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC); National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC); The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO); Aramco Overseas Company B.V. Tokyo; Emirates Marine Environment Group (EMEG); Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Limited (GASCO); Qatar Shell GTL Limited; Total Abu Al Bukhoosh; Vela International Marine Limited & Environment Public Authority (EPA).