Perth Petroleum Services Oil & Chemical Spill Equipment

Deploying the Expandi air boom off the coast of Exmouth

In September 2014, Apache Energy’s oil response group and Perth Petroleum Services, together with local industry organisations, launched and commissioned 400 metres of an Expandi air-inflation boom in the Indian Ocean.

The exercise was led by Apache, with PPS team members on board to train responders on how to deploy and retrieve the Expandi boom. Jon Nygaard from Expandi also travelled from Norway to oversee deployment.

Jetwave Marine Services provided a crew and two large service vessels, from which the boom and skimmer were deployed. The vessels formed a typical J-sweep pattern to simulate the concentration of the oil.

Exmouth Freight took care of the storage, transport and loading of all equipment, and provided additional team members for the day.

Back at Apache HQ in Perth, the second part of the exercise was carried out - a crisis management exercise where it was assumed that ‘the team had an accident and lost equipment and personnel overboard during the exercise’. We are pleased to report this was a long way from what really happened, but this enabled systems and processes to be tested back in Perth.

 The professional manner in which planning and safety was carried out ensured the responders successfully launched the booms, recovered the spill and returned home safely.

An important measure of success for the exercise was the positive feedback from local residents who the PPS team spoke with during their three days in Exmouth. Knowing that Apache had the necessary equipment and could deploy it quickly instilled confidence that help was at hand if an oil spill did occur in the area.