Over the past ten years, offshore petroleum exploration, development and transport in cold regions has expanded to include Alaska, the Canadian Beaufort Sea, Sakhalin Island, North Caspian Sea, Baltic, Norwegian Barents Sea, and the Russian Arctic. This period has also seen numerous important advances in our understanding of spill behavior and response in cold environments and ice, which is helping to expand the response-operating window for a number of differnt strategies. The U.S. Minerals Management Service ahs been a leader in North America for much of this work, funding a wide range of projects, and making full use of the Ohmsett test facility in New Jersey. Organizations in Finland and Norway have led many research and development programs to design new recovery systems and better understand oil behavior and weathering in ice. In April 2000, Alaska Clean Seas together with 16 other government and industry sponsors, organized the highly successful first Internation Oil and Ice Workshop in Anchorgage. That event attracted over 300 participants from around the world and was highly regarded as an opportunity to share the latest information in the field. Given the continued expansion in drilling activity and leasing interest in deep water Arctic areas, as well as rapidly increasing levels of tanker traffic in many ice-covered areas, 2007 is viewed by the sponsors as an opportune time to hold a second specialized workshop on the broad topic of oil spills in ice.
This workshop is designed to bring together an international audience with a common interest in advancing spill response in cold water and ice, and protecting the world's Arctic regions. The workshop goals are to:
- Share international advances in Arctic oil spill research and operations
- Guide future research and development programs towards priority areas of common interest.
The two-day technical program is made up of presentations by recognized experts on a wide range of key topics such as:
- International Arctic oil and gas developments
- Ice environments
- Ice-going vessel technology
- Remote sensing
- Enhancements to mechanical recovery systems
- Chemical herders in ice
- Cold-water dispersants
- Experimental spills
- Case studies
- Ongoing and future research programs