Ross Henderson, spokesman for Maritime New Zealand, told the BBC, "We don't yet know what amount of oil may have been released, but we are gearing up for an expected release of oil and container debris on shore, and have response teams ready to go once that starts happening."
A large amount of debris has been sighted downwind of the vessel. Maritime New Zealand expected debris and oil to start washing up on beaches.
The December 20 leak that occured during a tanker loading operation is Nigeria's worst offshore oil spill in more than a decade. The oil leakage came from a facility at the Bonga oil field belonging to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo). The loss of over 40,000 barrels of crude oil was traced to an export line from the field’s floating production, storage and offloading vessel.
In 1998 a similar leakage at ExxonMobil facility resulted in a horrendous spill estimated at over 45,000 bpd. In January 2012, Shell shut down its Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) following another oil leak that has affected the production of 70,000 bpd.
The Bonga oil spill and other similar spills have ravaged the Niger Delta and destroyed vegetation and marine life. The Environmental Policy Implementation Agency, an arm of the United Nations, blamed the oil spills in the Niger Delta on the negligence of oil firms.
Regardless of the cause, oil spills are highly destructive to the environment and have attendant consequences on the economy.
© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
Canada wants to build a pipeline to transport tar sands oil from the province of Alberta all the way down to refineries in Texas. Earth friendly groups see the 1,700-mile long pipeline, known as the Keystone XL, as a disaster for the environment. According to Dr. Hansen who is one of America’s top climate scientists, the full exploitation of Canada’s tar sands would constitute a “game over” scenario for efforts to solve climate change.
