impact of oil spills on trade & environment

IMPACT OF OIL SPILLS ON TRADE ENVIRONMENT : CASE STUDY OF EXXON VALDEZ , KUWAIT , BRAER AND KOMI SPILLS

CONTENTS

Ser No Subject Page No

1 . Abstract 3

2 . Chapter 1 - Introduction 5

1 .1 Problem Statement 6

1 .2 Scope of Study - Aim Research Questions 7

1 .3 Importance of the Study 8

3 . Chapter 2 - Literature Review 9

2 .1 Literature on Exxon Valdez 9

2 .2 Literature on Kuwait Oil Spill 16

2 .3 Literature on Braer Oil Spill 21

2 .4 Literature on Komi Oil

Spill 23

2 .5 Literature on Legal and Legislative Issues 28

3 Chapter 3 - Research Design and Methodology 31

4 Chapter 4 - Findings 38

4 .1 Summary of Findings . 38

4 .2 Findings Exxon Valdez Spill 40

4 .3 Findings Kuwait Spill 44

4 .4 Key Findings Other Spills 47

4 .5 Impact on Trade and Economy 49

5 Chapter 5 - Conclusions and Recommendations 51

6 References 60

7 Bibliography 62

ABSTRACT

Transportation of oil by tankers as well as pipelines is a perpetual necessity as oil sources are primarily concentrated in the Middle East while consumers are spread across the World . Thus oil tankers carry 40 percent of sea borne oil trade with 57 percent of the oil consumed in the World being transported by sea . Transportation entails possibility of spillage due to accidents as well as lack of adequate safety and training of operational staff . While the constantly going down over the years , the rise in price of oil and need to reduce avoidable wastage underlines the necessity to assess the impact of oil spills on trade and environment being undertaken in the research , by examining four major incidents of oil spill Exxon Valdez Kuwait , Braer and Komi , all in varied settings

The Exxon Valdez leak occurred at Prince William Sound , Alaska as the ship was not steered safely through the tricky Alaskan water channels full of icebergs . It resulted in large scale damage to the fragile ecology of the region and also saw loss of salmon trade , the primary produce of the area . The Kuwait oil spill was the result of environmental warfare waged by Iraq 's then ruler Saddam Hussein in the wake of the Gulf War 1991 . Oil was released from oil pipelines resulting in heavy damage to the environment adjacent to the desert and it took Kuwait many years to rebuild its oil economy

Braer was another incident of oil spill due to inadequacy of the shipping crew which occurred in the Shetland Islands , UK . While the environmental impact of the spill was limited it caused millions of dollars of loss to the tourism industry in the area . Komi provides a perspective of spillage due to lack of proper maintenance of oil pipelines by Komineft in Russia , which led to large scale damage to the environment in the tundra in close proximity of the Arctic

An analysis of these major incidents of oil spills has revealed the heavy damage to ecology and trade caused by indiscretion on...