Using Drones To Mitigate Pollution Losses

• Published date: 03 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Environment, Transport, Energy and Natural Resources, Technology, Oil, Gas & Electricity, Aviation, Clean Air / Pollution, New Technology
• Law Firm: Clyde & Co
• Author: Ms Angela Flaherty and Max Braslavsky

The development of drone technology is beginning to touch on a wide range of industries, sectors and aspects of life. Significant media attention has been dedicated both to beneficial uses of drones, such as unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") military reconnaissance missions, as well as the disruption which the misuse of drones can cause, such as the closure of Gatwick airport.

The oil and gas industry is increasingly utilising drones particularly for remote monitoring, inspection and predictive maintenance of critical infrastructure. More recently, there has been a rise in the use of drones in oil spill incident response. This article considers how this particular usage can mitigate pollution losses for oil companies and their insurers.

Drone use in oil spill incidents

Oil spill incidents often attract enormous pollution liabilities for responsible parties. One need look no further than the BP Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010 and the associated litigation that is still ongoing today to appreciate the significance of the pollution risk involved with offshore oil production and the transportation of crude oil products.

Technology and increased maintenance standards mean that the frequency of oil spills is rarer than ever before. However, when an accident does happen, having drones available for immediate deployment can enable:

• rapid shoreline monitoring, including ordinarily inaccessible shoreline, in order to determine the nature and extent of oiling;
• examination of the condition and anticipated efficacy of response equipment, such as skimming systems and booms, to determine whether they require maintenance or cleaning;
• accurate imagery and data to validate trajectory maps to improve response decision-making;
• the provision of accurate GPS coordinates of the locations of spills;
• the gathering of footage for government agencies to use for media communications to reassure the public;
• the tracking of vessels sailing through oil slicks if spills occur in areas of high traffic; and
• monitoring situations where there is a risk to human life and it is too dangerous for a helicopter to monitor.¹

Drones are already being used in this context, for example, Wingtra utilised its WingtraOne drone to assist with the assessment and response to an oil spill which occurred after a bulk carrier hit the edge of a reef on Rennel Island in February 2019.² However the drones technology industry is continuing to explore the boundaries of drone usage in oil spill response. Terra...