LIME and the food we JÉÉ
Have a full-course dinner and the chances are that every item you eat was produced, processed, or stored with the help of lime. For despite limes growing preeminence as an industrial chemical, it retains great importance in food production. Lime's direct u s e by farmers and truck gardeners includes neutralizing excess soil acidity and providing plant nutrients. Indirectly they also use it as a component of insecticides, fungicides, and some nitrogen fertilizers. Further attesting this chemicals versatility, LIME "THE" VERSATILE CHEMICAL
it is used in making butter, baking bread, refining sugar, and lengthening the time in which fresh fruit and vegetables can be stored. Indeed, lime plays many significant roles in the lives of everyone. Beyond helping us have more and better food, it can enable us to breathe cleaner air, drink purer water, and more economically produce a wide variety of manufactured articles. Your business well might benefit from more knowledge about lime. To obtain it, request a copy of our booklet Chemical Lime Facts from our Department E-2.
NATIONAL LIME ASSOCIATION 5 0 1 0 W I S C O N S I N A V E N U E , N.W.• WASHIISiGnft^^
the versatile chemical
International
T.M,
Now reaching beyond historic roies in building and agriculture, lime to day has become just about the No. 1 chemical in both diversity and ton nage of uses. With remarkable effec tiveness and cost-benefit ratios, among other things modern lime can:
ABSORB ALKALIZE BENEFICIAI CAUSTICIZE CLARIFY COAGULATE DEHYDRATE DISINFECT FLUX NEUTRALIZE PLASTICIZE PURIFY PRECIPITATE REFJNE STABILIZE •
all this and more can be done with
LIME
North Sea pact sets oil pollution liability It's no secret that tourist boards, local authorities, and coastal fishermen view the offshore oil and gas activities in the North Sea with distaste. They are con cerned about the damage that could arise if oil escapes from underwater installa tions in any appreciable quantities and about the high cost of the ensuing clean up. These people can gain some modicum of comfort from an agreement that has been just reached opening the way for payment for pollution damages traced to offshore oil drilling and production. Vic tims will be able to claim compensation under an international liability conven tion. It will be ready for signing as soon as the text in English and French has been checked and verified, probably next month. "The convention is the first of its kind anywhere," claims Peter Archer, solici tor-general of the U.K., who chaired the conference that led to the agreement. "European countries are taking the lead in trying to ensure that proper care is given to the environmental implications of offshore oil production. It could be of real importance to many people." Under the terms of the convention, offshore operators in the North Sea will be strictly liable for any pollution damage owing to the escape of oil from their in stallations. For five years from the date that the convention opens for signing, they will be liable for about $35 million in damages arising from each pollution in cident. After that, liability will go up to about $45 million per incident. The pre cise liability is expressed in terms of spe cial drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund. In addition, operators are obligated to carry $25 million insur ance coverage during the first five years, rising to $40 million thereafter. Details were hammered out after two general meetings, although a considerable amount of preparatory work has taken place behind the scenes since 1974. Par ticipating countries are Belgium, Den mark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the U.K., and West Germany. It will take ratification by four of these countries for the convention to come into force. Parties to the convention may unanimously invite other states with coastlines on the Baltic Sea or on the At lantic Ocean north of latitude 36° Ν to join the pact. The term "installation" refers to any unit, fixed or mobile, involved in offshore drilling or oil production. Included are such things as rigs, pipelines, oil storage and transfer structures. Tankers don't come under the term. After the conven tion goes into force, it will cover aban doned wells for up to five years. Liability stemming from offshore natural gas op erations normally ceases once the gas well
As drilling activity increases in North Sea, so do chances of oil accidents comes into production. There is no re striction, such as in the corresponding international convention for oil tankers, on the area in which pollution damage is suffered. The agreement as it has been finalized puts strict liability on a company whether it is at fault for a pollution inci dent or not. Victims of damage from a pollution incident may bring action against the offshore operator involved in the country having jurisdiction over the installation concerned or in any member country where damage from the same incident has occurred. To secure the right to limitive liability, the operator is required to set up a compensation fund in one of the mem ber states in which action can be brought. Fortunately, there have been no serious pollution mishaps stemming from North Sea oil and gas operations to date. But as the pace of activity steps up, the chance of something going wrong increases. For instance, the U.K. expects to receive up ward of 115 million metric tons annually of offshore oil in 1980, in contrast to last year's total of about 12 million metric tons. In Norway, production is expected to reach 78 million metric tons of oil equivalent in 1984 from the three oil and gas fields being developed in its sector. Offshore oil began flowing by pipeline to the U.K. in October 1975. A 220-mile pipeline connects the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea with a terminal at Seal Sands on the Tees estuary. Another, about 110 miles long, links the Forties field in the British sector with a point on the Scottish coast. A few weeks ago, a third pipeline began oper ating; it stretches some 130 miles from the Piper field to Flotta, one of the Orkney Islands. D Jan. 31, 1977 C&EN 15
