Circumstances of Oil Spills in Libyan Coastal Waters: Recent Advancement for Cleanup Techniques

   The risk of accidental oil spill in Libyan coastal areas might increase in the future. Ongoing and future oil exploration especially for marine argue the governments to plan for accidental oil spills. Despite the development in reported procedures which lead to quick and safe removal of contaminating oil, some other methods such as remediation methods need to be highlighted. In severe weather, the removal using the traditional methods such as skimmers, in situ burning, and sorbents is difficult to be implemented. For these cases, an alternative of using marine micro-organisms which consume spilled oil as a primary energy source in a method known as bioremediation. Recently, the introduction of nano-particles to areas contaminated by oil has showed a great result to enhance the oil degradation by marine micro-organisms. Therefore, managing the risk from such spills needs spatially resolved information. However, Libyan coast still have limited records on oil spill contamination events, oil production and oil tanker transportation. Therefore, studies about coastal resources and their existing condition have to be updated. Furthermore, there is a lack of coastal management infrastructure and coastal resources databases for assessing oil spill threats to habitats and human uses. This study develops the circumstances and knowledge for a discussion of coastline risk from oil spills in Libyan coastal area. In addition, a recent advancement for clean-up techniques from oil spills is highlighted with more emphasis on bioremediation as a newly developed area.