1. Oil’s wandering Path
Content is modified after National Ocean Service/An Oily Mess, Smithsonian Institute/Pollution Solution, PWSSC/Marine Oil Pollution and PWSSC/Fate of Spilled Oil

2. What items can you think of that are made from petroleum products?

3. How do we use oil? Transportation Fuel Lubrication Asphalt/pavement
Plastics
Medicines
Ink
Fertilizers/pesticides
Paints/varnishes
Electricity
Waxes
Beauty products
National Ocean Services/An Oily Mess

4. Oil’s Travels Oil can be spilled at any of these steps!
Oil is extracted from the ground
Oil is pumped to a pipeline
Oil is transported to a refinery
Oil is transported to its final destination
Oil can be spilled at any of these steps!

5. How Do Oil Spills Happen?
Oil spills are caused by accidents, usually when transporting the oil.
People make mistakes or are careless
Equipment breaks down
Natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes
Deliberate acts by terrorists, countries at war, vandals, or illegal dumpers

6. What Causes Man-Made Oil Spills?

7. Tanker Accidents – 15% Oil Drilling – 6%

8. Tanker Operations – 5% Aircraft Fuel – 1%

9. Atmospheric Deposition – 8% Runoff – 21%

10. Small Ships and Boats – 41%

11. Man-Made Causes of Spills
PWSSC/OSLE/Marine Oil Pollution

12. What Happens Once There is an Oil Spill?
Oil and waxes stick together
Usually float on water
Very heavy (dense) oil can sink

13. Ocean Surface Spills Oil stays on top of the water
Oil is affected by winds and currents
Oil spreads out rapidly and forms a thin layer (slick)
90% of a spill’s volme is contained in 10% of its area
Oil keeps spreading and becoming thinner until it becomes a “sheen” or “film”

14. Deep Water Spills
If the spill involves a gas explosion, the gas add buoyancy to the oil
In shallow waters, the oil rises as a single plume and then spreads out once it reaches the surface
In deep waters, the oil rises like a smokestack until it starts to dissolve and “tip over”
Bubbles rise at different speeds
Bubbles get smaller the taller the smokestack

15. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?
When did the Exxon Valdez oil spill happen?
Where did the Exxon Valdez hit?
How much oil did the Exxon Valdez spill?

16. Can you name any other oil spills?

17. World Oil Spills Kuwaiti Oil Fires Gulf War Oil Spill
1991
170 million tons
Gulf War Oil Spill
Kuwait, Iraq, Persian Gulf
5.1 million tons
Deepwater Horizon
Gulf of Mexico
2011
0.57 million tons
Image from Time.com
Image from guardian.co.uk

18. How does this compare with the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?
Kuwaiti Oil Fire
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Image from

19. What happens to the oil once it spills?
Oil immediately starts to undergo weathering
Evaporation
Photo-oxidation
Emulsification “mousse”
Biodegradation
Sedimentation

20. What habitats are sensitive to oil spills?
Oil affects different environments, plants, and animals in different ways
Estuaries
Sandy Beaches
Rocky Shores
Juvenile Species Habitat
Open Ocean
We must also consider how and where we can stage equipment in order to respond to the oil spill