“ The team at Omanos Analytics has been critical in advancing Crude Accountability’s work in exposing oil leaks off the shore of Turkmenistan. Omanos identified, verified and analyzed numerous oil slicks in the Caspian across a period of time. This geospatial data has been instrumental in our advocacy to stop international financiers considering financing oil operations in Turkmenistan. Omanos experts not only produced an in-depth report addressing our specific needs and objectives, but also met with us to go over the findings and answer all of our questions. Although the data and imagery was at times very technical, Omanos broke it down and presented to us in plain terms — information we could take in turn to our audience for greater impact. The team is multi-talented, strategic and precise!"
Crude Accountability (CA), an international environmental and human rights NGO, has been investigating reports of oil spills in the Turkmenbashi Bay area of the Caspian Sea for the past decade. In 2013, the team partnered with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to produce a study identifying and investigating oil spill candidates using comparisons between MODIS optical data and SAR data.
In 2019, Crude Accountability commissioned Omanos Analytics to review and update the findings of the 2013 study, in order to determine the status of potential sources of oil pollution in the Turkmenbashi Bay area of the Caspian Sea.
Using SAR imagery from the Sentinel 1 satellite, and optical imagery from the Sentinel 2 satellite, Omanos identified oil leaks and spills throughout the target region. The locations of many of the leaks were consistent with leaks identified in the 2013 study, indicating the presence of natural seepage of oil in the region or ongoing poor maintenance of infrastructure, such as oil rigs and submerged pipework. The latter is further supported by intermittent oil leaks identified from coastal industrial facilities and infrastructure throughout the target area.
The findings have been used to inform Crude Accountability’s advocacy strategy around a complaint filed with the EBRD Project Compliance Mechanism challenging the approval of the CMI Offshore project, believed to be a threat to Turkmenistan’s ecosystem.
American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013), Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project — Satellite Imagery Analysis for Environmental Monitoring: Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan.
