Our Arctic Neighbors: StatoilHydro working to avoid Arctic oil spills

Norway’s StatoilHydro acknowledges it had several serious oil spill incidents in the North Sea in 2008, but it will learn from these to improve its environmental standards when working in the Arctic, a company representative told the Arctic Frontiers conference Jan. 20. StatoilHydro takes the incidents very seriously, although the environmental consequences are minimal, said Trude Sundset, the company’s vice president for environment and climate.

StatoilHydro is developing prototypes of Arctic mechanical oil spill recovery concepts and the next generation of dispersant application systems.

“We need increased knowledge on the use of dispersant in Arctic conditions and nearshore areas,” Sundset said. “We need to increase the window of opportunity for use of in-situ burning. We need to develop remote sensing technologies for detection of oil in and under ice and in darkness, and we need to develop treatment techniques for shoreline cleanup.”

StatoilHydro has started a program that includes compliance training, improved risk management, simplicity of processes and procedures, and increased focus on technical integrity and barriers, and has trained 1,000 of its top management in the program, Sundset said.

“To be able to earn a license to operate in the Arctic it is simply necessary to be able to do the operations in a safe and responsible manner and with zero harm,” she added. “Others will have to judge us, and it is not we that decides on who should do operations in the Arctic. But we believe that we are well-equipped to earn the license to operate in the Arctic.”

—Sarah Hurst