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Short Profile:
Dr Ian Borthwick, a marine biologist and oceanographer by training, has been involved with Environment, Health and Safety issues for more than thirty years providing support to industry, government, financial institutions (International Finance Corporation, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and European Bank for Reconstruction), and and non-government organisations. He has broad ranging experience in the oil and gas industry, both upstream and downstream, having held senior environmental posts with the Canadian Federal Government, BP International and Sun Oil. His work experience encompasses over thirty countries, spanning five continents, from the desert to the Arctic, from tropical rain forest to deep ocean.
Dr Borthwick specialises in environmental, CSR and HSE management procedures, risk, sensitivity and impact assessment, audit and review, particularly of systems and operations. In the last 22 years he has has completed over 70 environmental assessments and 30 oil spill assignments from Angola to Yemen, Long Beach to the Mekong Delta, the Barents Sea to the Arabian Gulf, and is an internationally recognised marine and environmental scientist and industry specialist.
Dr Borthwick has wide experience in crisis management, emergency and oil spill contingency planning, response and training, and has attended several major oil spills: Exxon Valdez, American Trader, Sea Empress and Pontoon 301 in the UAE. He has provided expert testimony in numerous oil spill arbitration cases. He has been involved in numerous post-event assessments and litigation for several major oil spill incidents, including the Aegean Sea off Corunna, Nassia in the Bosporus, Nikitas Roussos off Denmark, and the Sea Empress off Milford Haven. He has worked with the E&P Forum (now OGP), as author of the industry standard on environmental management, as well as other industry forums, in Hong Kong in the development of an oil spill response organisation, ACEPA in Angola, establishing the basis for industry emergency response mutual aid. He has also supported national governments with on-scene support to the United Arab Emirates Federal Environment Agency during the Pontoon 300 oil spill, to the South African Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Saldanha Bay, in Kuwait for crisis management development following an oil spill, and similarly, for the Turkish Coast Guard in the Bosporus.
Dr Borthwick was also directly involved in similar appraisals post Exxon Valdez in Alaska, the American Trader in California and Macondo incident. Appraisals were completed over a period of 18 months and included all spheres of operation, including upstream in 31 countries, downstream in 28 countries, and six marine terminals. The assignment also included an assessment of oil spill response organisations: Oil Spill Service Centre, Southampton, industry centres at Dundee, Nigg and Sullom Voe; and national response capabilities in Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Anglophone Africa. |
