8 minute read
INDUSTRY NEWS
STAY UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
The Guardian ran this headline on 3 June to remind us that the world’s patience with the fossil fuel industry is wearing thin.
In a series of defeats for the oil industry, over the course of less than 24 hrs, courtrooms and boardrooms turned on the executives at Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Shell was ordered by a court in The Hague to reduce its carbon emissions, while shareholder rebellions in the US imposed emission targets at Chevron and a boardroom overhaul at Exxon Mobil.
To environmental campaigners this Black Wednesday marks a turning point in the financial and legal consequences awaiting oil companies that do not act fast to take accountability for their role in preventing a climate catastrophe.
Shell were in court to defend themselves against Dutch climate campaigners at Milieudefensi. The case was fought using elements of human rights law and the UN’s guiding principles, which have ‘nearuniversal application’ and can now be used in cases taken against other major polluters. It places the onus on the industry to act and that it can and now will be held accountable to take very specific steps. It is relevant in legal terms; it is not about money but about conduct.
At Exxon, shareholders, including Blackrock and Vanguard, voted to oust at least two of the oil giant’s board members in favour of candidates put forward by an activist hedge fund for failing to take the transition to low carbon energy seriously.
At Chevron, more that 60% of investors voted in favour of a climate change resolution from Dutch campaign group, Follow This, to force the company to reduce its emissions.
Whilst these oil companies will, in different ways, manage this situation by offloading assets, transferring ownership into different companies, there will negligible shortterm benefit to the climate. However, shareholders, investors and banks that have traditionally been supportive of the oil majors as a reliable source of dividend income have been placed on watch that change is necessary and vital to the future of the planet. Activist and private investors and major investment funds are watching them closely and now have the power to force change and win! MV Xpress Pearl off Columbo – 20 May 2021
The X-Press Pearl, departed Hazira, India on May 15 and was heading eastbound on the last leg of a voyage from the Middle East. Whilst sailing a fire started in one of its containers. She requested permission to return to India which was rejected. However Sri Lankan authorities agreed to respond to a distress call on 20 May as the vessel anchored 9.5nm outside the port of Colombo awaiting terminal space. She was carrying 1486 containers which included 25 tons of Nitric Acid as well as cosmetics and other potentially hazardous chemicals. Whilst extensive firefighting efforts were undertaken to contain the fire it eventually spread to the whole vessel. SMIT Salvage were appointed to manage the incident and once the fire was thought to be extinguished on several occasions it flared up eventually consuming the whole vessel.
MV Xpress Pearl – now a wreck 6 June
With debris from the fire and its container’s contents washing onto Colombo’s pristine beaches, on 23 May the Sri Lankan authorities demanded the vessel be towed further from the shore and into deeper waters. However, with the fire raging this was not possible. With the fires extinguished the salvage and port authority teams were able to get on board
on 1 June and agreed that the tow could start. However whilst undertaking a slow tow on 2 June the water flooded vessel’s stern struck bottom and the tow was abandoned.
Since then, the rest of the vessel has has slowly sunk and remains with the stern stuck on the bottom. The vessel has appx 300 metric tons of bunker fuel on board and there are fears that as the vessel sinks and maybe starts to break up that this and other chemicals retained on board despite the fire will be released into the local waters. As such the Sri Lankan Navy and Coast Guard remain on the scene.
Speaking on CNA in Singapore, Shmuel Yoskovitz, the CEO of X-Press Feeders, the owners of the ship, said he wanted to apologize for what has happened. “I’d like to express my deep regrets and apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the harm this incident has caused to the livelihood and to the environment of Sri Lanka,” said Yoskovitz.
Describing the current situation at the ship, he continued by saying, “Currently what the salvors are doing, they are monitoring the wreck and making sure that any debris or god forbid, the oil spill will be detected
The British built oil replenishment ship Kharg caught fire in the early hours of 2 June and sank in the Gulf of Oman some 20 hours later. It is thought that the fire started in the ship’s engine room. The crew of 400 were safely evacuated. The vessel was the largest in the Iranian
READ MORE
Sri Lankan navy soldiers are seen working in a beach in Pamunugama western province Sri Lanka for the removal of debris washed ashore from the burned container ship MV X-Press Pearl. 5th June 2021
quickly and handled accordingly. To assess the real situation, we will need to wait for the wreck to settle on the seabed and then see what really can be done.”
Sri Lanka has also requested additional assistance from India to provide oil containment booms, dispersant chemicals, and tools to recover oil that might potentially leak from the ship. In addition, X-Press Feeders said that it brought in representatives of ITOPF and Oil Spill Response to monitor and assist with any clean-up if there is an oil leak. X-Press Feeders said while limited by the current COVID restrictions it had also supplied heavy machinery to assist with the clean up along the shoreline.
Video of the incident is at:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/MVXPressPearl?src=hashtag_click
More details at:
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/x-press-pearlslowly-settles-to-the-bottom
IRANIAN NAVY OIL TANKER SINKS IN THE GULF OF OMAN
Navy and operated as an oil replenishment and general supply vessel. Her design dates from the Olwen class of fast fleet oilers built for the Royal Navy. The Kharg was ordered by the Shah of Iran in 1974 who was overthrown prior to its completion. It was eventually handed over 1980 but was not delivered to Iran until 1984. With the politics between Iran and her neighbours varying from tense to hostile there is the possibility that this was a government sponsored attack on the vessel, however that is not confirmed
ANOTHER ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENT IN RUSSIA
A Mauritius Coast Guard watch officer has come under fire in the investigation into last year’s grounding of the Wakashio ore carrier at Pointe-d’Esny, resulting in the island-nation’s worst environmental disaster. The officer, Constable Ujoodha, looked at his screen only once even though he saw that the vessel was 11.5 nautical
Authorities in Russia’s far-northern Komi Republic have declared an emergency over a 90-ton oil spill affecting local soil and waterways. The leak originated from a Lukoil pipeline located in the neighbouring Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Reportedly, most of the oil products have pooled on the shore of the Kolva River, however the pollution is continuing to spread into larger waterways and is moving towards the Barents Sea. Local environmental activists say the spill already constitutes an environmental disaster and has likely caused hundreds of millions of roubles in damage. miles from the coast when it should have been 20 nautical miles away.
He did see that the MV Wakashio had deviated from its course, but ignored it and chose instead to concentrate on other administrative work. Constable Ujoodha was the officer in charge of the radar surveillance of Mauritius’ territorial waters
By 14 May it had reached the Usa River which the Kolva feeds into and by the 15 May it had also reached the Pechora river some 200 kms from its source
According to a local environmental activist, Alexander Sladkoshtiev, due to the deterioration of the oil pipeline and the absence of an automatic mechanism that could have turned off the oil supply immediately after the accident, fuel was ejected out of the pipe and into the water under high pressure for six hours. As a result, the polluted area exceeded 12,000 square kilometers (or 4,633 square miles). It is believed that oil spills are more frequent that those reported due to ageing at the headquarters of the National Coast Guard (NCG), in Fort-William, Port-Louis, at the time of the accident on July 25, 2020. However when he did ask the radar station at Pointe-du-Diable to contact the vessel. They ignored the calls….
More details at: https://lnkd.in/dHNmkat
infrastructure, remote location and little remote monitoring which would enable action to be taken.
One of Russia’s largest-ever environmental disasters took place in Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk krai, in May 2020. Approximately 21,000 tons of diesel fuel leaked out of a damaged reservoir at a power plant belonging to a Nornickel subsidiary, spreading into nearby rivers and the surrounding soil. A Russian court ordered Nornickel to pay a recordbreaking 146.2 billion-rouble ($1.98-billion) fine over the resulting environmental damage.
