Falklands : Ocean 8 – Oil Recovery:
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 01.11.2008 (Article Archived on 15.11.2008)
The dive team on the M/V Tasnui have recovered some 28 tonnes of fuel from the Ocean 8. Operations have now ceased as all main tanks have been checked and either had fuel removed or found not to contain fuel.
Ocean 8 – Oil Recovery:
The dive team on the M/V Tasnui have recovered some 28 tonnes of fuel from the Ocean 8. Operations have now ceased as all main tanks have been checked and either had fuel removed or found not to contain fuel.
The M/V Tasnui arrived on 15 October, and the team onboard has worked up to 28 October. The oil recovery operation was commissioned and organised by the Ocean 8’s insurers; The Korean Shipowners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association. The Ocean 8 is lying on her port side and the expected quantities of fuel were found and pumped from a number of the port side tanks. The centre and starboard tanks were found not to contain fuel or where fuel was present it was in much smaller volumes than anticipated. One port side tank was also found to be empty and that was checked by a diver entering the tank to verify that it did not contain the oil that was expected to be in that tank.
The oil recovery operation was monitored by fishery officers and personnel from the FPV Protegat. The quantity of fuel onboard the M/V Tasnui was measured on arrival and at the end of the operation. This assessment of the quantity of fuel recovered closely matches the figures provided by the dive team. The dive team appeared very capable and the oil recovery operation proceeded well, although did not encounter the quantities of fuel anticipated.
Some fuel leaked from the Ocean 8 at the time it sank on 19 May, and prior to the operation to seal the main leaks. Since then there has been a minor oil slick emanating from the wreck. It is difficult to know how much fuel leaked from the Ocean 8 during that time, however there does appear to be some 70 tonnes of oil unaccounted for. Some of this may still be in the structure of the Ocean 8, and some of it has probably escaped into the environment.
The dive team on the M/V Tasnui have sealed up a number of openings on the Ocean 8. These include the eleven holes they made in tanks as they extracted the fuel, 5 portholes and eleven vent pipes. On the basis of the information provided from the dive team it is likely that the Ocean 8 will continue to leak fuel at a slow rate for some time. This should have a limited environmental impact.
Surveys of the shoreline and seabirds in Berkeley Sound undertaken during the oil removal operation did not encounter any signs of oil.
John Barton
Director of Fisheries
29 October 2008
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