Did Aramco cover up an oil spill?

Reports have surfaced over the last few days that claim that Saudi Aramco covered up an oil spill back in 1993 in the Arabian Gulf.

According to former employee, Nicholas Pozzi, a former pipeline engineering and operations manager, he helped Saudi Aramco clean up a spill similar to that of BP's current disaster in the US Gulf.

Pozzi says an accident caused millions of liters of crude oil to spill into the Persian Gulf and that he was on the team that developed a plan to remove the crude using Saudi-owned supertankers.

The state-run company has been quick to release a statement dismissing the claims. "Saudi Aramco unequivocally refutes allegations about an alleged 'secret' oil spill during 1993 in the Arabian Gulf."

"The company states that there is no factual basis to those allegations, and there was no such event or incident as alleged concerning its operations in 1993, 1994, or at any other time."

Cleaning up the oil spill

Talking about the oil spill clean up, Pozzi said, "The supertankers in Arabia have the ability to suck or discharge, so they can pump or suck," he said.

According to Pozzi, the operation cleaned up 85 percent of the total oil spilled.

His idea to use supertankers in the Gulf of Mexico has been endorsed by a number of prominent figures in the oil-and-gas industry, most notably John Hofmeister, the former president of Shell Oil, who has urged the Obama administration to pursue it, reported VOA News.

Furthermore, the company said that while Pozzi was a former employee of the company he made no significant contribution to the spill preparedness or response teams during his employment or at any other time.

"The claims made about his alleged efforts at a 1993 oil spill response operation are without factual basis," said Saudi Aramco.

Nick Pozzi has launched a private company called WOW Energy Solutions and is working with people along the Gulf coast in Alabama to prevent oil slick damage to their beaches and fisheries. He says if either the US government or BP calls him, he is ready to do what he can to help them contain the catastrophic oil spill.

 

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