• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 11 / 23 / 2010

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A team of the Instituto de Oceanología de Cuba is developing a comprehensive oil spill information system, team leader Ramón Pérez Díaz said during an oil safety conference in Cienfuegos.

The institute, which belongs to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), has been working on plans since the BP oil disaster in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico last April. The IOC system is based on real-time operational oceanography, consisting of direct observation, application of mathematical models using knowledge of sea currents, sea and air surveillance, creation of digital maps, and analysis of data and satellite maps, Pérez said during the conference last week, according to official Website Cubadebate.

Offshore drilling in Cuban waters has raised political concern in neighboring Florida. A delegation from the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) was in Havana in August, for a briefing by Cuban officials about oil safety protocols and procedures.

At least three oil companies are expected to begin exploratory drilling in Cuban waters of the Gulf next year. Other presentations at the “First Symposium of Security and Risks of Hydrocarbon Spills,” with participants from Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador, were about an Early Warning System (SAT), the state of preparations in other high-risk operations such as thermoelectric power plants and ports, the role of Cuban fire fighters in disaster response, bio-remediation of spills, and liability issues.

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2010/11/22/spill-prevention-and-response-get-scruti...