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Arabian Gulf Spills

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS BASED ON THE MOST CURRENT DATA PROVIDED TO NOAA. -  NOAA
activities at the Arabian Gulf spill  One key postwar activity was to define specific
missions and goals as follows:  Observe the leading edge of the slick    Provide
trajectory of slick movement.    Define the scale of the impact of "sheen" on landfalls.
Results    KFUPM now provides trajectory support to MEPA.    Landfall of the slick on
Bahrain was ground truthed and considered small compared to past spills in the area (3m
band at high tide with 3% coverage).    USCG AirEye tracking of sheens that are known to
cover the entire Gulf from other sources was terminated. Identify and track uncontained
oil sources continuing or potentially impacting the Gulf.  USCG AirEye documented an
ongoing release of oil from Kuwaiti waters. The USCG AirEye was focused on those locations
where oil was entering or might enter the Gulf.   DOD air resources were used to resolve
the locations of oil sources to locations in the Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery Complex.  On 2
April 91, the estimated release rate was 1,500 bbls to 6,000 bbls/day.   Damaged vessels
in the Kuwaiti Port area were determined not to be significantly contributing to the oil
release.   The accumulation of oil in pools from damaged oil field wells, less than 4nm
from the Gulf, was identified as another potential source of oil release.   USCG AirEye
was used in an attempt to identify the oil pooling on land surfaces in the coastal zone.
As expected, the SLAR system, that was designed to find oil on water, was not a successful
tool for this task on land.   Limited ground observations in Kuwait found that a growing
problem does exist and actions are needed to document and map the spreading and
accumulating oil pools.  However, no immediate threat of release could be detected based
on these very limited observations.  (See separate report on this issue.) Current status
of the spill  Ongoing release from Mina Al- Ahmadie refinery complex was estimated on 2
April at 3,000 bbls/day (range of 1,500 to 6,000 bbls/day) from damaged diked areas,
natural run- offs, and sewers from the facilities tank farm, and perhaps extending into
the south tank farm on the ridge to the west.  The damaged pipe rack to Mina Al- Hamadi's
South Pier and damaged to the pump room and valves at the North Pier all contribute to
these total estimates.  Ongoing release from the damaged Sea Island and Al- Baker
terminals continues in the range of hundreds of barrels of oil per day.  Visual
observations show that the rate of leaking varies, possibly due to tidal influences.
Landed oil and oil offshore from Tanajib south to Abu Ali.  ARAMCO's detailed aerial
survey conducted on 26 March estimated both the width and the thickness of landed oil
along detailed segments of the coastline. Recoverable floating oil was estimated at two
locations-Royal Commission Marina and Manifa Bay.  Open water sheen and tarball volumes
that were not considered recoverable was calculated outside of these areas.   Oil impact
on shoreline     993,000 bbls  Oil offshore in sheen and tarballs     15,000 bbls  Oil
non- recoverable conventionally   1,008,000 bbls  Oil recoverable at two locations
124,000 bbls Landed oil on Kuwait shoreline and offshore band of oil from Kuwait City to
Tanajib.  The USCG SLAR system has shown that the band of oil observed on 2 April moving
along the Kuwaiti coastline consisting of ribbons of brown and black oil (10m to 100m
wide) and 4% of the entire band mixed with streamers of tarballs and mousse has continued
to move onshore.  The oil was expected to impact the Kuwait shoreline, especially during
the high tides, starting 3 April 91.  Detailed observations of the Kuwait coastline of the
oil onshore or of the oil band moving along the coast has not been possible to estimate a
total oil volume. Information on shoreline effects or shoreline impact areas.  Much of
this information was gathered with the USFW representative.  I have not been able to
detect any change in this general area of the spill.  The IMO representative recently
released their proposal to clean Karen Island before the turtle breeding season.  The EPA
representative has been active on this issue.