DHAHRAN, Jun 24 (Arab News): Despite US media reports claiming Saudi Aramco cleaned up a secret oil spill in 1993 using supertankers, the company states there is no factual basis for either assertion.
During coverage of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Nicholas Pozzi, a former Saudi Aramco employee, maintained a 1993 accident caused millions of liters of crude oil to spill into the Arabian Gulf and that he was in the team that developed a plan to remove the crude using Saudi-owned supertankers.
Saudi Aramco refuted his claims in an official statement and stated that Pozzi worked as a foreman in the company’s East-West Pipeline Department. “However, he made no significant contribution to the company’s spill preparedness or response teams during his employment or at any other time.”
The company detailed its participation in oil-spill cleanup activities and operations in early 1991 during the Gulf conflict. Under the leadership of the Saudi government, the company along with several agencies, undertook cleanup operations lasting for about six months until July 1991.
The 1991 spill response was carried out with the technologies and best practices available at that time, such as portable skimmers and containment booms. Although the company utilized a number of work and supply boats, Saudi Aramco asserted that no supertankers were used during the 1991 cleanup. The concept of utilizing supertankers to collect large quantities of spilled oil was never pursued.
Pozzi provided “details” about the nonexistent spill. His idea to use supertankers in the Gulf of Mexico has been endorsed by a number of prominent figures in the oil-and-gas industry, most notably former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister who urged the Obama administration to pursue it.
Pozzi may have a commercial motive for his claims. He has launched a private company called WOW Energy Solutions and is working with people along the Gulf coast in Alabama to prevent oil slick damage to their beaches and fisheries. He says if either the US government or BP calls him, he is ready to do what he can to help them contain the catastrophic oil spill.
Saudi Aramco made reports available to several news media outlets about its involvement in the 1991 spill cleanup. One of the reports was published in Saudi Aramco’s Dimensions Magazine Fall 1996 edition and can be viewed online at
http://www.saudiaramco.com/irj/go/km/docs/SaudiAramcoPublic/ExternalFiles/P18to27.pdf