VIET NAM OIL AND GAS GROUP

PETROVIETNAM UNIVERSITY

OIL SPILLS – DEFINITION, EFFECTS AND

OIL SPILL RESPONSE
K8 REFINING AND PETROCHEMICALS

Lecturer: Le Thi Huyen, PhD

Group 5
 OVERVIEWS

 Oil spill
• An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon
into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to
human activity, and is a form of pollution.

• Icluding marine and land oil spill

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 EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLS ON FLORA & FAUNA

❖ Aquatic habitats:
- Coral reef (important nurseries for shrimp, fish & other
animals): exposed or smothered by toxic substances
- Exposed sandy, gravel or cobble beaches (few full-time
organisms): lesser risk
- Mangrove forests (home to a diversity of plant and animal
life): fatal due to prop roots coated with oil
❖ Fish:
- Contacting directly with oil & contaminating their gills
- Volatile components of oil absorbed by fish eggs, larvae and
juvenile
- Eating contaminated food

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 EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLS ON FLORA & FAUNA

❖ Birds & mammals:

- Physical contact (fur or feathers coming into contact with
oil)
→ lose insulating properties → freezing to death
→ complex structure of feathers allowing to float or fly
damaged → birds’ drowning
- Toxic contamination
+ Inhaling oil vapors → damage central nervous system,
liver & lungs
+ Ingesting oil.

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 EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLS ON FLORA & FAUNA

- Destruction of food resources and habitats

+ Predators ingesting contaminated prey
+ Destroyed population of prey organisms → no food
resources for predators
+ Spilled oil lingering in the environment for long periods of
time
- Reproductive problems
+ Oil transferred from birds’ plumage to eggs they are
hatching
+ Reduction of breeding animals & nesting habitats

MATLAB
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 OIL SPILLS RESPONSE

What is the aim of oil spill response?

The aims of oil spill response are to minimize damage and reduce the
time for environmental recovery by:
• Guiding or re-distributing the oil into less sensitive environmental
components (e.g. deflecting oil away from mangroves onto a sandy
beach) and/or
• Removing an appropriate amount of oil from the area of concern
and disposing of it responsibly.

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 OIL SPILLS RESPONSE

Booms &
Skimmers

Oil spills
response

In situ
Burning
Dispersants
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