Natural resource damage assessment

SINTEF Materials and Chemistry is carrying out an assessment of natural resource damages resulting from oil spilled in Kuwaiti Coastal waters during the 1991 Gulf War.

SINTEF is working on this project as a sub-contractor to SAFEGE Consulting Engineers (Sociètè Anonyme Francaise d’Ètudes et de Gestion), which has been hired by the Kuwaiti authorities to carry out this damage assessment. Funding for the project comes from the United Nations Compensation Commission.

Numerical models, supported by extensive data compilation and acquisition activities, form the basis for the assessment. The SINTEF 3-dimensional Oil Spill Contingency and Response (OSCAR model) is being used for this application. OSCAR is being packaged with a hydrodynamic model from SAFEGE into a system called the Kuwait Marine Simulation Manager (KMSM).The model system represents further development of the U.S. Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model for Coastal and Marine Environments (NRDAM/CME), in which Senior Research Scientist at SINTEF Applied Chemistry, Dr. Mark Reed, was a primary architect and developer.

The work also includes a detailed study of weathering properties for Kuwait crude oil, using SINTEF’s internationally recognized laboratory weathering procedures.

Contact person: Mark Reed