Launched in South Africa in 1996, initial activities were focused mainly in the African region, but have since extended globally, with missions undertaken across South America, the Caribbean, Caspian and Black Sea region, East Asia and many countries elsewhere.

Set principally around workshops, seminars and training courses, GI missions bring together the key players from government administrations and from in-country oil company business units; to focus together on the issue of developing essential elements of oil spill preparedness and response.

At the outset of the GI programme, special attention was paid to the ratification of relevant international Conventions and the establishment of national response arrangements for oil spill events. The strengths of each partner have influenced the evolution of GI and particularly, enhanced its structure and implementation.

A feature emerging in 2006, and likely to shape the GI programme for the future, is the shift to a regional setting, with oversight of a sustained programme of regional work through individually designated Project Coordinators. Establishing a new benchmark is the GI-WACAF project which has a clear set of aims/objectives, key building blocks for defining and developing preparedness and a Business Plan that is moving the work forward in a structured manner.

In addition to this specific GI-WACAF programme coordination role, OSRL/EARL has also been heavily involved in GI work in the East Asia region, has a sub-contract arrangement for the coordination of the OSPRI (Caspian/Black Sea) programme and supports IPIECA in their work with other organisations such as MOIG (industry group for the Mediterranean), REMPEC (government centre for the Mediterranean) and REMPEITC-Carib (government centre for the Caribbean and wider region); each of which has a remit for GI-style work in their region.

Providing support to the GI programme offers considerable benefits to OSRL/EARL and to our Members, including the opportunities to:
• Attend influential forums that focus specifically on oil spill preparedness and
response
• Work alongside government agencies to formulate appropriate and effective
national response arrangements
• Align individual oil company's interests to a common industry approach
• Promote and have industry best-practice recognised by government
and reflected in national systems
• Develop closer understanding and working relationships with key government agencies that will be involved in any oil spill event

Through our pre-eminent position as a global Tier 3 preparedness and response organisation, our staff offer the core technical response experience that is critical to our Members in these forums, promoting best practices and offering support and guidance in making positive changes to current levels of global capability.

2006 Advocacy and GI Activities



Notable highlights include:
Oil Spill Preparedness Regional Initiative (OSPRI)
• Participation in large scale regional exercise "SULH" including equipment mobilisation from Bahrain base and provision of a response team and Technical Advisor from Southampton. There was also participation in preparatory workshops and exercise debrief/review activities

Mediterranean Oil Industry Group (MOIG)
• Ongoing engagement and support through meeting attendance, presentations and participations in AGM

East Asia
• Comprehensive study report of regional preparedness delivered to IPIECA
• Proposals for a new GI project for the region developed for implementation

BACK TO TOP

GI-WACAF Programme

This IMO and IPIECA GI project on oil pollution preparedness response and cooperation covers 21 countries in West and Central Africa (WACAF). Six oil company members (BP, Chevron, ENI, ExxonMobil, Marathon, Shell, Total) are funding the project and the IMO is making an equivalent contribution. A full-time OSRL/EARL Project Coordinator is dedicated to this programme.

Objectives
The GI-WACAF project supports tangible steps toward improved preparedness in the region. The IMO, IPIECA, national governments and in-country oil companies are working together to establish the current situation for oil spill risks consisting of potential events and consequences, the existing response arrangements and agreed clear steps to address the gaps. These steps encompass:

• Ratification and implementation of relevant legislation (including OPRC90, CLC92
& FC92)
• Identification of a designated national authority
• Development of a national response structure (NOSCP)
• For all potentially polluting activities, an adequate contingency plan to be
developed to match the NOSCP
• Clear roles/responsibilities established for different oil spill events of varying
severity
• Adequate levels of specialised and non-specialised equipment and resources
to be established to suit these different events
• Suitably trained and exercised personnel to be in place, ready to respond
• Regional and international facilitation to be developed such that technical
cooperation and assistance can be rendered in times of needs
These fundamental principles are all set out in the OPRC Convention and are reflected in the industry practice of building a tiered preparedness and response capability.

BACK TO TOP

State of Preparedness in April 2006
The GI-WACAF project was launched formally in April 2006, in Gabon. Key features were reviewed and a broad picture was established for the state of preparedness and response capability in the region.



Action Plan
Based on this assessment, the IMO and IPIECA are working together on various technical missions to address the gap analysis results and coordinate this work with parallel programmes of regional work led by UNEP and others.

Each mission has clear objectives, is carefully planned to achieve successful engagement between the government agencies and oil company representatives and is managed to ensure that critical outcomes are captured and followed up to progress towards a better state of preparedness.

Long term View
The programme is initially planned to run for two years, extendable to four years depending on significant progress and results. An updated review of the state of preparedness in the region will be undertaken in 2008, reporting against the same indicators. This assessment will be used to check the scope of the next biennium action plan (2008-2009) to keep improving the GI-WACAF approach.

By 2009, the feasibility will have been addressed whether to establish a regional coordination centre, similar for example to REMPEC or REMPEITC-Carib, or technical support to sustain these regional improvements in preparedness for the future.

For advocacy activities in Europe, please contact:
Andy Nicoll, Advocacy Manager at andynicoll@osrlearl.com

For WACAF activities, please contact:
Philippe De Susanne, GI WACAF Project Coordinator at philippedesusanne@osrlearl.com

For advocacy activities in East Asia, please contact:
Daniel Chan, Advocacy Coordinator at danielchan@osrlearl.com

BACK TO TOP