EJERS, European Journal of Engineering Research and Science Vol. 3, No. 7, July 2018 The Oil Spill Incident in Vietnam Phuoc Quy Phong Nguyen collisions [8]. However, only three cases of oil spills were Abstract—At present, oil spills are a potential threat to received, accounting for 8% of the oil spill incident; Six coastal states. In many sea areas of the sea, the phenomenon of cases of administrative fines for the environment; 77% of "black tide" is common. There are many causes for this the remaining cases do not, or lose compensation. Fig. 1 situation such as collisions, accidents of water transport shows an oil spill accident in Vietnamese sea zone [9]. vehicles (especially oil tankers), oilrig incident, oil spill incident due to geological changes, waste oil burglary on the sea. For Vietnam, about 200 million tons of oil are transported each year through the sea. In the process of transporting and exploiting offshore, there may be incidents leading to oil spills into the sea, polluting the marine environment. According to statistics, in the past 20 years, about 10 oil spills have been recorded annually, especially in 2012, there were 12 cases affecting the estuarine and coastal environment of Vietnam and coastal ecosystems as well as coastal resorts. This article presents a report on oil spills occurring in Vietnam and policies of the Vietnamese government to respond to oil spills. Index Terms—Oil Spill; Oil Slick; Policy; Vietnam Maritime I. INTRODUCTION Vietnam is a sea nation, with about one million square kilometers of sea surface, where the world's second largest Fig. 1. An oil spill accident in Quy Nhon, Vietnam oil shipping route exists, carrying oil from the Middle East to Northeast Asia. Offshore Vietnam has many oil fields to The oil spill incident at sea has caused serious economic be exploited. Meanwhile, along the coast from north to damage, polluting the marine environment, seriously south there are many shipping ports, oil ports; Every year affecting the ecosystem of mangroves, seagrasses, tidal the sea and coastal areas of Vietnam are subject to the areas, lagoons and coral reefs. ...; Spills also contain toxins effects of many big storms and changing weather conditions that damage and can cause ecological degradation. Oil spills [1]. This is a constant threat to oil spills. Vietnam is an open pollute the marine environment, seriously affecting ocean connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, ecosystems [10]. Especially ecosystems of mangroves, which is one of the major shipping lanes, with 70% of which seagrasses, sandy tidal areas, lagoons and coral reefs. Oil are oil tankers [2],[3]. It has not yet been classified as a pollution reduces the resilience, flexibility and resilience of serious pollutant, but has also been warned of high pollution ecosystems. Oil content in water is high, oil films reduce the risks in the future, as industry is developing in coastal areas, oxygen exchange capacity between air and water, reducing plus exploration and mining activities. Oil and gas oxygen in water, causing the balance of oxygen in the transportation in the region is increasing, while the area is ecosystem to be upset [11]. In addition, spills of toxins often a dangerous disaster at sea [4],[5]. damage the ecosystem, which can cause ecological According to incomplete statistics, since 1989 there have degradation [12]. The oil contains many different been more than 100 oil spills from marine accidents, components, which alter, destroy the structure of living pouring into the sea from a few tens to hundreds of tons of cells, sometimes causing the whole population to die. Oil oil. Total losses of economic and environmental caused by seeping into the sand and mud along the coast can affect a the incident can be up to tens of VND billion [6]. The cause very long time [13]. There have been many cases where of the oil spills are often caused by oil and gas exploitation, organisms die massively due to the effects of oil spills. It is collision of tanker/tanker, broken oil pipelines, multiple also alarming that the oil spreading at sea and washed bursts of fuel oil, or multiple decks on the platform, service ashore for long periods of time without collection will ship incident; maritime activities; due to weather changes reduce the number of organisms, causing damage to the [4],[7]. In Vietnam, the risk of occurrence of oil spills is fishing and aquaculture sectors [14]. Oil contaminates the tending to increase, especially since 1993 to now, the water environment causing fish to die due to lack of average in the sea in Vietnam has three to four oil spills. dissolved oxygen [15]. The oil clinging to the soil, the stone Surveys show that most of the oil spills are caused by embankment, the island coasts that make beauty look bad, causing bad smell to the revenue of the tourism industry is also severely damaged. Oil spills also affect the operation of Publised on July 16, 2018. fishing ports, ship building and repair facilities. As oil drift Phuoc Quy Phong Nguyen is with Ho Chi Minh city University of Transport, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. breaks down machinery, equipment for resource extraction DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/ejers.2018.3.7.802 1 EJERS, European Journal of Engineering Research and Science Vol. 3, No. 7, July 2018 and shipping [16]. Through the survey at Lach Bang fishing About 11h 20/03/2003, Hong Anh ship of Trong Nghia port, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province, where regular Co., carrying 600 tons of oil F.O from Cat Lai to Vung Tau, anchorage of thousands of fishing vessels from different but when the Buoy No. 8 (Vung Tau) was sinking large regions. The state of pollution of water here due to the waves. Oil started spreading to Can Gio area, HCMC. sludge of the ship "careless" discharge into a large black In 2005, the Kasco Monrovia in Cat Lai - HCMC (518 area [17]. Ten years ago, this estuary was home to a rich tons of DO oil spilled). At 17:00 on 30/01/2007, thousands ecosystem of mangroves, but now almost all of the of tourists and people are bathing in mangroves are dying out, leading to the erosion. brackish Cua Dai Beach - Hoi An (Quang Nam), Non Nuoc water is almost extinct [18]. This is also a continuous (Danang) panic run to shore, when a layer of black oil incident of oil pollution caused hundreds of hectares of massively spilled into the land. The oil ridge extends nearly aquaculture lost, so many households forced to quit. 20 km from the Danang sea to Quang Nam. An ecological disaster is showing up on the world's most beautiful coastline. By the end of February 2007, lupine oil appeared on the coast of 3 communes in Le Thuy district - Quang Binh. After more than 10 days, oil has spread over 60 km of sea coast from Nguy Thuy to Thanh Trach (Bo Trach district) with increasing density. Some nice beaches like Hai Ninh (Quang Ninh); Nhat Ninh, Bao Ninh, Quang Phu (Dong Hoi); Jumping Rock (Bo Trach) has been oiled in. On April 19, 2007, oil spill occurred in the waters of Nha Trang and Ninh Thuan. In Khanh Hoa, oil spills to the beach in the center of Nha Trang city. In Ninh Thuan, the oil spills cover dozens of kilometers of coastline. Fig. 2. Oil spill from shipwreck Consequently, the oil spill incident can be considered as one of the types of breakdown that causes the greatest economic loss, in the type of human-induced environmental fault. Currently, the location of oil spills and overcome this problem in Vietnam still have many limitations, both legal basis and specialized equipment and technical means to overcome oil spills. II. SOME OIL SPILL INCIDENTS IN VIETNAM According to statistics from the Center for Petroleum Safety Research, more than 90 oil spills occurred in rivers Fig. 3. New Oriental before sinking under the sea Phu Yen province and in coastal areas from 1987 to 2001 in Vietnam. In Ho Chi Minh City, from 1993 up to now, there have been over 8 At the end of October 2007, the New Oriental shipping oil spills with an estimated oil volume of 2,520 tons, causing ship was disturbed and sunk in the waters of An Ninh Dong damage of more than 7 million USD. Especially, in 2006, commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. The oil spill 2007, in the coastal area of Vietnam, there were many out of the position of the sinking ship southwest to about "mysterious" oil spills. Especially, from January to June 500m wide with an estimated 25 ha. 2007, there have been many oil spills in 20 coastal provinces On the evening of December 23rd, 2007, in the sea, about from Bach Long Vi island to Ca Mau. These provinces have three nautical miles from Ba Lang An village, Binh Chau collected 1,720.9 tons of oil. district, Binh Son district, Quang Ngai province, two cargo On 26/12/1992, Bach Ho Oilfield, soft duct from oil ships collided and over 170 m3 of diesel oil spilled into the tanker to loading float spilled 300-700 tons of FO oil. sea. This is the accident between the two major cargo ships In 1994, the Neptune Aries crashed into the Cat Lai jetty in the first time in the sea of Quang Ngai. However, there is in Ho Chi Minh City (a total of 1,864 tons of DO oil was no remedy to the 24/12 afternoon.