Topic: Impact and Safety of Deep Water Drilling
Country: Egypt
Delegate Name: Claire Dennis
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Egypt position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
The Arab Republic of Egypt would like to assert its commitment to the safety and well-being of the environment, especially on the issue of deep water drilling, which is primarily used for hydrocarbon extraction. We would like to note our continued support of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness Response and Cooperation and the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of The Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution. As a nation heavily relying on the tourist industry, the purity of our waters is of the utmost interest to our nation’s economic wellbeing. We also recognize our reliance upon the petroleum industry; however, the safety of our seas comes first. The Arab Republic of Egypt has experienced recently a minor oil spill in the Gulf of Suez. We take this as an important reminder that oil spills are very possible and would have disastrous consequences on our economic and environmental safety.
Furthermore, we very much would like not to repeat the incident in any capacity. However, we would like to note that the spill in question was not caused by a deep water oil rig malfunction, but, by the rinsing of the reservoirs of an oil tanker. The Arab Republic of Egypt would be in favor of limited international regulation of deep-water oilrigs while giving individual nations the power to create their own expanded policies as they see fit. We would like to see these international standards put in place to ensure that our tourist industry would not be put in any jeopardy, like the many unfortunate areas of the U.S. coast. The Arab Republic of Egypt wants to see limited international regulation for the safety of its bordering waters to ensure the safety of its vital tourist industry.
