…As Organisations Push for Carriage Ban on Non-Compliant Fuel***

Five people were missing after an explosion on Monday at an oil and gas drilling rig in Oklahoma, officials said.

Pittsburgh County Sheriff Chris Morris said at a news conference that it wasn’t clear what caused the fire, which authorities were notified of at 8:45 a.m. (9:45 a.m. ET).

The blast occurred outside Quinton, about 70 miles from the Arkansas state line, Morris said.

The five unidentified workers were among 22 people working at the site, he said.

“Seventeen came out,” Morris said. “Five are unaccounted for.”

One of the workers who escaped was medivacked to a hospital to be treated for burns, said Pittsburg County Emergency Management Director Kevin Enloe.

Enloe added on Monday afternoon that a fire was still burning at the well head.

The drilling rig belonged to Houston-based Patterson-UTI Energy, which said in a statement that it had activated emergency response systems and was cooperating with first responders and authorities at the scene.

A message left with the site’s operator, Red Mountain Energy, was not immediately returned.

In the meantime, environmental organisations and the global shipping industry have joined in calling for an explicit prohibition on the carriage of non-compliant marine fuels when the global 0.5% sulphur cap takes effect in 2020.

In a joint statement ahead of International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Sub Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response from 5-9 February, at which proposals for a carriage ban will be discussed by governments, environmental and shipping organisations assert that such a ban would help ensure robust, simplified and consistent enforcement of the global sulphur cap.

A number of international associations representing the global shipping industry, as well as the Cook Islands and Norway, have already submitted proposals to IMO to ban the carriage of non-complaint fuels. These proposals call for an amendment to Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention, stipulating that ships should not carry fuel for propulsion with a sulphur content above 0.5%, unless they are using an approved alternative compliance method.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has agreed that from January 1, 2020 the maximum permitted sulphur content of marine fuel outside Emission Control Areas will reduce from 3.5% to 0.5%.

Unless a ship is using an approved equivalent compliance method, there should be no reason for it to be carrying non-compliant fuels for combustion on board, according to Transport & Environment, a member of the Clean Shipping Coalition organization.

The 2020 sulphur cap will provide substantial environmental and human health benefits as a result of the reduced sulphur content of marine fuels used from January 1, 2020. At the same time, the 2020 cap will significantly increase ships’ operating costs and present major challenges to governments that must ensure consistent enforcement across the globe.

To secure the intended environmental and health benefits, the organisations say it is of utmost importance that enforcement of this standard is efficient and robust globally. Any failure by governments to ensure consistent implementation and enforcement could also lead to serious market distortion and unfair competition.

The call for a prohibition on the carriage of non-compliant fuels is now supported by BIMCO, Clean Shipping Coalition, Cruise Lines International Association, Friends of the Earth U.S., International Chamber of Shipping, International Parcel Tankers’ Association, INTERTANKO, Pacific Environment, World Shipping Council, and WWF Global Arctic Programme.

NBC with additional report from World Maritime News