By Newsbreak Producer Taliesha Naidoo - Researches together with conservation non-profit organisation, WILDTRUST, have partnered on a project that predicts oil spills from offshore exploration and its impact on the ocean. The project titled, Oil Spill Model for South Africa's Exclusive Economic Zone, evaluates the risks and impacts of a potential oil spill by providing realistic scenarios for assessing environmental, social, and economic risks. The model will ultimately make it more difficult for approvals to be obtained by oil and gas giants for risky proposals that threaten marine biodiversity and coastal community livelihoods. Ocean Modeller on the project, Dr Giles Fearon says the model can be a powerful tool in providing objective and scientific assessments of the potential risks posed by deep-water blow-out spills from offshore oil and gas extraction...