ABSTRACT
The recent activity about research on submersed hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Greek territory and the oncoming construction of several offshore platforms in the area demand the establishing of a new and powerful risk governance protocol for search and rescue operations in this area. Greece, owing to its great number of islands, has obligations over an extended Search and Rescue Region (SRR). This authority is daily exercised on different occasions ranging from emergency medical help to rescue operations in endangered ships sailing in both the Aegean and Ionian Sea, together with the saving of hundreds of immigrants trying to trespass Greek waters. Regarding the oil & gas industry, Greece is having three offshore platforms in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, situated on deep waters away from the coast and prospect for more oil drills. This paper aims at proposing some new methodological tools in order to evaluate the adequacy of the emergency preparedness arrangements of the Greek offshore sector. In doing so, the paper presents a summary of the operational procedures and the conditions that exist and prevail in the Search and Rescue (SAR) at sea for endangered offshore platforms (oil rigs) in Greece, focusing on the use of a well-established methodology such as the HAZOR in the Risk Governance scheme.
