OIL SPILL

Presented by:

Roshni Tiwari

Contents

• What is an oil spill

• How does it occurs

• Human impacts

• Its environmental effects

• Its Prevention

• Its clean up and recovery

• Equipment's used

• References

What Is An “OIL SPILL” ?

• An oil spill is the release

of a liquid petroleum

hydrocarbon into the

environment, especially

marine areas, due to

human activity, and is a

form of pollution. The

term is usually applied to

marine oil spills, where oil

is released into the ocean

or coastal waters, but

spills may also occur on

land.

How Does It Occurs ?

• Oil spills may occur due to release of crude

oil from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling

rigs and wells, as well as spills of refined

petroleum products (such as gasoline,

diesel) and their by-products, heavier fuels

used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or

the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil.

Human Impacts Of Spills

• An oil spill represents an immediate fire hazard. The

Kuwaiti oil fires produced air pollution that caused

respiratory distress.

• The Deep-water Horizon explosion killed 11 oil rig

workers. The fire resulting from the Static Charge,

which killed 47 and destroyed half of the town's

center.

• Contamination can have an economic impact on

tourism and marine resource extraction industries.

For example, the Deep-water Horizon oil spill

impacted beach tourism and fishing along the Gulf

Coast.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

April 20, 2010

Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, United

Kuwaiti oil fires 1991

Environmental Effects

• Oil penetrates into the structure of the plumage

of birds and the fur of mammals, reducing its

insulating ability, and making them more

vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and

much less buoyant in the water.

• Heavily furred marine mammals exposed to oil

spills are affected in similar ways. Oil coats the

fur of sea otters and seals, reducing its

insulating effect, and leading to fluctuations in

body temperature and hypothermia.

• Some birds exposed to petroleum also

experience changes in their hormonal

balance, including changes in their

luteinizing protein.

• Oil can also blind an animal, leaving it

defenseless. The ingestion of oil causes

dehydration and impairs the digestive

process. Animals can be poisoned, and

may die from oil entering the lungs or

liver.

An oiled bird from Oil Spill in San

Francisco Bay , 11/09/2007A bird covered in oil from the Black

Sea oil spill, 12/11/2007

Prevention

1. Double-hulling - build double hulls into vessels, which

reduces the risk and severity of a spill in case of a

collision or grounding. Existing single- hull vessels

can also be rebuilt to have a double hull.

2. Secondary containment - methods to prevent

releases of oil or hydrocarbons into environment.

3. Blowout Preventer (BOP’s)

4. Well castings

5. Making shipping safer

6. Keeping the navigator informed

Cleanup

and

Recovery

Methods for cleaning up

1. Bioremediation: use of microorganisms (Oil Zappers) or

biological agents to break down or remove oil.

2. Dredging: for oils dispersed with detergents and other oils

denser than water.

3. Skimming: Requires calm waters at all times during the

process.

4. Solidifying: Solidifiers are composed of dry hydrophobic

polymers that both adsorb and absorb. They clean up oil

spills by changing the physical state of spilled oil from liquid

to a semi-solid or a rubber-like material that floats on water.

5. Vacuum and centrifuge: oil can be sucked up along with the

water, and then a centrifuge can be used to separate the oil

from the water - allowing a tanker to be filled with near pure

oil.

A U.S. Air Force Reserve plane

sprays Corexit dispersant over the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the

Gulf of Mexico.

20 April – 15 July 2010

Clean-up efforts after the Exxon

Valdez oil spill Alaska.

March 24, 1989

Equipment used includes :

1. Booms: large floating barriers that round up

oil and lift the oil off the water

2. Skimmers: skim the oil

3. Sorbents: large absorbents that absorb oil

4. Chemical and biological agents: helps to

break down the oil

5. Vacuums: remove oil from beaches and

water surface

6. Shovels and other road equipment: typically

used to clean up oil on beaches

References

1. "Lingering Lessons of the Exxon Valdez Oil

Spill". Commondreams.org. 2004-03-22.

Retrieved 2012-08-27

2. CNN.com, Kuwait still recovering from Gulf War

fires, 3 Jan. 2003

3. Guided by :Harshvardhan Tiwari, Bsc. Fire &

Safety, NEBOSH, PDIETM (MGLI), Sr. Officer

HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) , (John 18

Drilling Rig, Barmer, Rajasthan)

THANK YOU