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Dispersant use in the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill Response
Dr. Peter CollinsonGlobal Environmental Response,
Safety & Operational Risk, BP
3rdFebruary 2012
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Responding at scale
~5,000 ft
5-state
response area6,500+ vessels,
125 planes,
6 rigs
Largest mobilization of
boom (13.5 million ft)
Up to 14 robot subs
operating at a time
~48,000
responders
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Overview
Dispersants in the oilspill response toolkit
When to use dispersants
Dispersant application in
the Deepwater Horizon
(DWH) response
Evaluating dispersants
Key learnings andongoing work
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What are dispersants?
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Factors to consider in dispersant use during
response or something similar
Potential to:
Reduce amount of oil that may reach sensitive near-shore habitats
and other ecologically important areas
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Increase
biodegradation of oildue to increased
surface area
because of smaller
droplet size
Minimize shorelinestranding of oil
Improve worker
safety by reducing
VOCs and LELs
Modified from A. Allen/Spiltec
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Deciding when to use dispersants:
Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA)
Figure 1. Factors Influencing the Use of an Ecological Risk
AssessmentFigure 2 - Factors Influencing the Use of Ecological Risk
Assessment Information
Health &
Social Factors
Government
Issues
Ecological
risk assessment
Technological
feasibility
Costs/Benefits
Regulatory and legal
requirements
Examples of the type of factors that need to be considered:
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Use of dispersants in the DWH incident
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Deepwater Horizon: subsea dispersantinjection
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Deepwater Horizon dispersant application
No subsea dispersant injection for 33 hours
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Deepwater Horizon dispersant application
Before subsea injection
After subsea injection
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DWH dispersant application:
Lab and field monitoring & evaluation
Toxicity and efficacy ofdispersant must be
understood
Effective dispersion resultsin more bioavailability in
the water column and
enhanced biodegradation
Field monitoring isrequired to evaluate
efficacy and inform
ongoing use
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Ongoing work: research & collaboration
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Summary
Dispersants are an important part of the oil spill response toolkit
Under the appropriate circumstances, dispersant use can reduce safety risks
and overall environmental impacts
Dispersant selection and application based on science and government
approval; pre-planning is very useful.
Both industry and governments can do further research building on the
experiences gained from the DWH response
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Dispersant use in the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill Response
Dr. Peter CollinsonGlobal Environmental Response
Safety & Operational Risk, BP
3rdFebruary 2012
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