In early July, Arpel carried out the global launch of the new web application of RETOS™ (Readiness Evaluation Tool for Oil Spills) through three virtual meetings.

These events were designed to reach the largest number of professionals related to the topic and who live in different parts of the world.

RETOS™ is unique in that it is a tool developed by Arpel but has been used by governments and companies in over 100 countries.

For this reason, Arpel, along with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Ipieca, decided to update this tool and transition it to a web application.

Along with the web application, the "International Guide for the Assessment of Oil Spill Planning and Preparedness" and its Manual were also updated.

According to Miguel Moyano, Senior Managing Director of Arpel, in his introductory presentation to the webinar, "as awareness of the risk of spills to the terrestrial and aquatic environment increased, as well as the experience of government agencies personnel, countries established legal requirements for spill prevention and response and the number of plans and actions increased as well as their level of sophistication."

He pointed out that it was only in 2008 that a first proposal for a guide for the evaluation of response capacity was made, and that in response to the request from the international community to have a more user-friendly tool, Arpel developed RETOS (Readines Evaluation Tool for Oil Spills) in 2011.

During the three webinars held on July 8 and 9, Elliott Taylor, the principal consultant responsible for the development of RETOS and the International Guide, presented the details of this process and these tools.

Link to the full webinar recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdVWgIOcCC4&t=17s

Link to download the International Guide and the RETOS Manual: https://www.arpel.org/en/publications/assessment-of-oil-spill-response-planning-and-preparedness-international-guide-and-retos-v30