Oil Spills Case Study

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MODELS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF CRUDE OIL SPILLAGE Anyadiegwu Charley Iyke C. – Department of Petroleum Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri. drcicanyadiegwu@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Classification of oil spill by source and quantity was presented. Samples of oil spilt from seven sites were obtained for the study. Computer model was developed for the determination of the source and quantity of oil spill in any site. The analyses in this paper show that it is very easy for operators to know the extent of spill in the case of any spillage that occurs. The computer model can always be used to evaluate the level of spill. Key Words: Oil spillage, source, level of spill, computer model. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study An oil spill…show more content…
Ocean oil spills are among the most commonly depicted and catastrophic forms, though they can also occur on land. Accidents frequently cause spills as oil is released from a container or pipeline due to damage or mechanical failure. There are also oil spills that occur as a result of dumping, often on land, which then runs off into water; natural seepage of oil can also be damaging to the environment. Although no oil spill is good, the type of oil that spills can affect the severity of the problem and the methods used to clean it up. Very light oils, like gasoline and jet fuel, are highly toxic and can have an immediate impact on the area surrounding the spill. They are also extremely difficult to clean up; although these fuels will evaporate, anything that's still liquid must be recovered as quickly as possible and contaminated soil must be removed. Water that is contaminated must be specially treated to make it…show more content…
It claimed eleven lives and is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the IXTOC I oil spill (The Daily Telegraph, 2010). Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on 15th July, 2010 (Robertson et al, 2010). The total discharge has been estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3) (USCG, 2011). After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19th September, 2010 (Weber, 2010). A photo of oil spreading north-east from the leaking deepwater horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico is shown in Fig

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