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Surface Oil News

16 Jul 2018

New Oil Spill Tech Solutions Put to the Test

A rotocraft equipped with a thermal infrared sensor captured images of emulsified oil to validate the sensor’s capabilities during the NOAA and BSEE funded remote sensing test. Image: Courtesy Ohmsett

No two oil spill response operations are the same. Each can present new and even tougher challenges for spill responders as they detect, contain and recover spilled oil. Diverse aspects affecting oil spill response operations can be the physical environment, spill monitoring, use of chemical dispersants, and the availability of proper technology for the situation.Some challenges have been met through research and technology development of techniques for dealing with spills. However…

31 Oct 2017

A Turning Point in Oil Spill Recovery

(Photo: Elastec)

Cleaning up marine oil spills can be a challenge as there are various types of oil spilled but only a few effective recovery methods. The three main technologies for oil spill recovery for inland and offshore waters are mechanical, insitu burning (ISB), and dispersant application. Absorbent booms and pads may also be used, but they are more effective for small fuel spills. Mechanical recovery, usually an oil skimmer, is a device that skims contained floating oil and transfers the recovered oil to a storage container or vessel.

17 Oct 2016

Ohmsett: Advancing Spill Response Every Day

Photo: Ohmsett

The National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility has been an integral part of the spill response community for more than three and a half decades. Tucked away on the shores of the Sandy Hook Bay in central New Jersey resides Ohmsett – The National Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Test Facility. It has been an integral part of the spill response community for more than three and a half decades. Government agencies, private industry, and oil spill response organizations from around the world have visited the facility for testing, research and training.

15 Jun 2016

Tech File: Fire Boom for the US' Worst Oil Spill

Photo: Elastec

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling platform was destroyed as a result of a catastrophic blowout of the Macondo 252 well in the Gulf of Mexico. The blowout resulted in a continuous discharge of approximately 3.19 million barrels of oil over three months covering approximately 30,000 square miles of the Gulf. It was the worst accidental oil spill in U.S. history. Due to the massive amount of oil being spewed into the Gulf, three aggressive oil removal methods were authorized: mechanical skimming, dispersant application and controlled burns.

14 Jan 2015

BSEE Allocates $6m for Oil Spill Research Projects

Photo courtesy of BSEE

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) will invest up to $6 million to support oil spill response research projects in 2015 and is soliciting proposals for these projects. In a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) released on the federal government’s business opportunities website, www.FedBizOpps.gov, the bureau called for white papers focusing specifically on one of seven topic areas for proposed research covering oil spill response operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The deadline for submitting white papers is February 9, 2015.

25 Mar 2014

Deepwater Horizon Spill Causes Fish Abnormalities

Oil near the Deepwater Horizon disaster spill source as seen during an aerial overflight on May 20, 2010. (Credit: NOAA)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that results to a new study conducted by a team of NOAA and academic scientists suggest that crude oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster causes severe defects in the developing hearts of bluefin and yellowfin tunas. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, show how the largest marine oil spill in United States history…

17 Mar 2014

NRL Models Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

A diver tests underwater imaging system in the Arabian Sea, after an airborne platform "saw" this mine through the water. "The emphasis here," says Dr. Jason Jolliff, an NRL oceanographer who forecasts ocean optics, "is on developing models of the ocean environment to help the naval warfighter." (Photo: U.S. Navy)

Dr. Jason Jolliff is an oceanographer with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). "The emphasis here," he says, "is on developing models of the ocean environment to help the naval warfighter." His most recent paper, published in Ocean Modeling (March 2014), shows NRL can also forecast where oil will go following a major spill. "If you're going to do forecasting," he says, "you have to get the ocean circulation correct. It's fundamental to all else." Jolliff plugged the distribution…

09 Sep 2013

Insights: Joseph Farrell, Jr. President & CEO, RESOLVE Marine Group, Inc.

Joe Farrell needs no introduction to the marine salvage community or, for that matter, MarineNews readers. Originally from the Boston, Mass., area, he began by enlisting in the United States Coast Guard, eventually attending the U.S. Navy diver school, becoming a ship’s diver. After two years at sea and diving in Arctic waters, he volunteered for service and became an explosives advisor, offloading ammunition ships in Vietnam. Eventually, Farrell became a civilian diver at the U.S.

19 Apr 2013

Innovation Driven by Demand - Oil Spill Response

Oil spill equipment manufacturer Elastec brings new and sophisticated tools to a market in need of better, faster, more efficient and environmentally sound tactics. Just what the doctor ordered. Elastec/American Marine may well be the largest manufacturer of oil spill and environmental equipment in North America, but it is technology and innovation that are quickly propelling the firm to the top of the markets. With six U.S. locations, three foreign offices and a network of global dealers, ISO 9001 certified-Elastec produces a range of products that includes oil spill equipment (skimmers, containment boom, fire boom, dispersant application equipment), incinerators, vacuum systems, portable tanks, pumps and a dozen more entries.

24 Jan 2013

Polymers Avert Pollution Threat

Among the more compelling news photos published following the landfall of Hurricane Sandy was that of the 184' tanker John B. Caddell run aground onto a Staten Island street by tidal flooding. That the tanker required heavy lifting to return it to sea was only part of the problem. A layer of bunker fuel shrouded the vessel's flooded engine room, creating a contaminated work area. C.I.Agent Solutions assisted with remediation so salvage work could move forward. C.I.Agent Solutions' solidifying polymer granules and EVAC Filtration System were used to help clean the contaminated engine room.

21 Sep 2011

NOAA Releases Study on Deepwater Horizon Controlled Burns

Black smoke billows from a controlled burn of surface oil during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A new study by NOAA and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) found that controlled burns released more than one million pounds of sooty black carbon into the atmosphere.

During the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, an estimated one of every 20 barrels of spilled oil was deliberately burned off to reduce the size of surface oil slicks and minimize impacts of oil on sensitive shoreline ecosystems and marine life. In response to the spill, NOAA quickly redirected its WP-3D research aircraft to survey the atmosphere above the spill site in June. During a flight through one of the black plumes, scientists used sophisticated instrumentation on board, including NOAA's single-particle soot photometer, to characterize individual black carbon particles.

01 Aug 2011

WHOI: Microbes Consumed Oil in Gulf Slick at Unexpected Rates

More than a year after the largest oil spill in history, perhaps the dominant lingering question about the Deepwater Horizon spill is, “What happened to the oil?” Now, in the first published study to explain the role of microbes in breaking down the oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have come up with answers that represent both surprisingly good news and a head-scratching mystery. In research scheduled to be published in the Aug. 2 online edition of Environmental Research Letters, the WHOI team studied samples from the surface oil slick and surrounding Gulf waters.

05 Jul 2010

US Accepts EU Support on GOM Spill

The Federal On-Site Coordinator in US has accepted yesterday night an oil cleaning device to combat the environmental consequences of the oil spill that is polluting the waters of the since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling well on 20 April. The has accepted a high capacity, high speed off-shore skimmer offered by the European Union through the European Maritime Safety Agency and currently located in (). The Framo Transrec 150 skimmer is an off-shore device that separates oil from water. Contacts are ongoing in order to arrange details for the delivery. The US Coast Guard has also accepted last night 1200 metres of off-shore booms offered by . "Europe is ready to continue the excellent cooperation on emergency response that we have with our friends.

05 Aug 2010

Federal Science on the Fate of Oil from BP Spill

According to a federal science report released August 4, the vast majority of the oil from the BP oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed using chemicals –  much of which is in the process of being degraded. Much of this is the direct result of the federal response efforts. A third (33 percent) of the total amount of oil released in the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill was captured or mitigated by the Unified Command recovery operations, including burning, skimming, chemical dispersion and direct recovery from the wellhead, according to the report. An additional 25 percent of the total oil naturally evaporated or dissolved, and 16 percent was dispersed naturally into microscopic droplets.

20 Sep 2010

Photo: Sub-Surface Surveillance of Spilled Oil

In this photo, a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth array rests on the deck of the American Diver while the ship transits to meet the Pisces, a NOAA fisheries survey vessel that is using a CTD to conduct sub-surface oil surveillance near Grand Isle, Sept. 14, 2010. Various sub-surface oil assessment techniques are being used off the coast of Louisiana in an effort to track, monitor, and measure oil remnants from the spill. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Etta Smith.

14 Nov 2005

Barge Salvage Operations Continue

The Coast Guard has reported that response crews are anchoring the barge and plugging ballast tank vents to prevent water from leaking into the cargo tanks. Salvage opperations will continue throughout the night. An underwater survey operations revealed that oil continues to leak from the barge's damaged cargo tank. An over flight this morning revealed a sheen and black patches of oil extending three miles southwest of the barge. While transiting from Houston to Tampa, Fla., the barge struck some debris that gouged a 35-ft. long by 6-ft. wide hole in the starboard bow. There was approximately 300 thousand gallons of oil in the damaged tank. The tank barge DBL 152 was carrying almost 5 million gallons of a thick, heavy petroleum product known as number-six fuel oil.

22 Nov 2005

Cargo Tank Damaged, Leaking Oil

Divers completed the damage assessment of the capsized barge, which revealed that a third cargo tank has breached. The number one port cargo tank hatch was damage sometime after the double-hulled tank barge DBL 152 capsized on Nov. 14. The cargo tank contained approximately 440,000 gallons of oil. A diver survey of the barge on Saturday evening discovered a 2.5-ft. by 8-ft. hole in the top of the number three starboard cargo tank. It also had been damaged sometime when or after the barge capsized, and it contained approximately 564,000 gallons of oil. The number one starboard cargo tank was damaged in the collision with debris on Nov. 10. The entire contents of all three damaged cargo tanks were 1,309,000 gallons of oil. It is not known how much oil has escaped the damaged tanks.