THE OFF-SHORE PETROLEUM TERMINALS IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

In the present days the energy request at the world level is growing-up. This increasing needs a necessity of more quantities of basic fuel, especially oil and coal. To satisfy the industrial and civil requirements and to cover the necessary quantities the transport field, mainly the maritime transport increase the transport capacity of their units. For the oil transport at sea, the tanker ship capacity has been expended from around 30,000 tones up to over half a million tones. These developments of maritime transport capacities impose to be developing new operational capacities. The operational capacities, the terminals, are difficult to be expend and improve when are placed in a limited space as harbors. This aspect conduct to necessity to create new terminals, placed outside of port area, in open sea, with possibility to receive and operate ships with tonnage more over the harbor terminals possibilities. This positioning in the open sea area has the risk of damaging the environment higher than port terminals. In the present paper will be presented some aspects of the impact on marine environment of the off-shore petroleum terminals.