IMO R&D Forum To Be Held in France

The IMO will hold the Third International R&D Forum on High-Density Oil Spill Response on March 11-13, 2002 at Brest, France. The forum, which will examine research and development of new technology in oil spill response, particularly regarding spills of high density or heavy oils like bunker oil, is being organized by IMO in co-operation with French authorities. The Forum is co-sponsored by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, United States, the European Commission, IPIECA and ITOPF. A number of incidents, including the Nakhodka in 1997 and the Erica in 1999, have highlighted the need to examine how to effectively respond to spills of high-density oil. The program will focus on detection and drift modeling, behavior and weathering, containment and recovery of floating oil, and recovery of sunken oil.