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Technical
information arising from the Prestige oil spill
Heavy fuel oil
Major oil spills
Oil spills off Spanish coast
Heavy
fuel oil, also known as residual fuel oil, (and a second less
technical description here)
the residue from refining, is too viscous for beach cleanup with industrial
vacuum cleaners. Buckets, spades and gloved hands, as well as protective
suits and face masks, are the tools required. This stuff is seriously
filthy muck, the worst possible kind of oil spill. It is concentrated,
sticky and contains very few volatiles, these having been recovered for
use as motor and other fuels. Heavy fuel oil is destined as fuel in power
stations or industrial heating. It is both hard to burn in the open and
does not evaporate easily.
Although
most spills listed in the table below are of marine origin, significant
spills of land origin have also been included. |
Major
oil spills Oil
spill quantities can only be estimates. |
Incident |
Date |
Location and incident details |
000 metric tonnes
spilt |
million US gallons |
Oil type |
Saddam
Hussein |
1991
January |
invasion
of Kuwait:
Persian Gulf |
834
1,500 |
250
458 |
crude |
A
further estimated 67 million tonnes of crude oil was spilt and burnt
on land |
Ixtoc I |
1979
14 Dec. |
Gulf of Mexico
exploratory well blowout |
463 |
140 |
crude |
Saddam
Hussein |
1983 |
Iraq-Iran
War:
Persian Gulf |
280
500 |
83 150
|
crude |
Atlantic
Empress |
1979
19 July |
West Indies: Trinidad
& Tobago
(collided with Aegean Captain, which spilt 4.31 million gals)
|
141 |
42.7 |
crude |
2 Aug |
whilst under tow |
137 |
41.51 |
Castillo de Bellver |
1983
6 Aug. |
South Africa: off Cape
Town
(tanker caught fire and split in two) |
252 |
75.6 |
light crude |
Amoco
Cadiz |
1978
16 March |
France: Brittany coast
(Portsall)
200 km of coastline affected |
223 |
66.9 |
light crude |
Haven |
1991
11 Apr. |
Italy: Genoa |
144 |
43.2 |
|
Odyssey |
1988
10 Nov. |
Canada: 700 nm off Newfoundland |
132 |
39.6 |
|
Torrey Canyon |
1967
18 March |
United Kingdom: Cornwall
coast |
119 |
35.7 |
crude |
Sea Star |
1972
19 Dec. |
Oman: Gulf of Oman |
115 |
35.3 |
crude |
Hawaiian Patriot |
1977
25 Feb. |
North Pacific |
103 |
30.9 |
not known |
Urquiola |
1976 |
Spain: La Coruna, Galicia |
100 |
30 |
|
land pipeline |
1994 |
Usink, Komi Republic
(West Siberia)
polluting the Pechora River basin |
100+ |
30 |
not known |
Prestige |
2002
13 Dec. |
North
Spain: Gallician coast |
77
|
23.1 |
residual
fuel oil |
(cargo.
amount spilt
so far listed here.) |
Smaller
spills mentioned in article |
Aegean
Sea |
1992
3 Dec. |
North Spain:
La Coruna, Galicia |
74 |
22.2 |
not known |
Exxon
Valdez |
1989
24 March |
USA: Prince William
Sound , Alaska |
37 |
11.1 |
light crude |
Erika |
1999
13 Dec. |
France: west Brittany
coast |
10 |
3 |
residual
fuel oil |
A longer, but less comprehensive, list of oil spills is available from
Alertnet.org
.
Oil
spills off Spanish coast Oil
spill quantities can only be estimates.
|
Incident |
Date |
Location and incident details |
000 metric tonnes
spilt |
million US gallons |
Oil type |
Prestige |
2002
13 Dec. |
Gallician coast, west of La Coruna. |
77
|
23.1 |
residual
fuel oil |
Leaking
tanker towed along coast, then broke and sunk 350 km (120 miles)
west of Cape Finisterre. |
(above
amount is the listed cargo.
amount spilt so far listed here.) |
Aegean
Sea |
1992
3 Dec. |
harbour port,
La Coruna, Galicia (double-hulled) |
74 |
22.2
|
not known |
Andros Patria |
1978, 31 Dec. |
Cape Villano, Galicia
(90 km west of La Coruna) |
49 |
14.6 |
not known |
Urquiola |
1976
12 May |
harbour port,
La Coruna, Galicia |
100 |
30 |
not known |
related material
The
Prestige: Latest reports (Jan. 2003)
The Prestige
debacle, part 2 (Nov. & Dec.2002)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Jan 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Nov & Dec 2002)
Another
potential ecological oil mess (Nov. 2002)
World
oil reserves and oil-based fuel development
World oil resources
the web address for this article is
http://www.abelard.org/news/archive-oil1-2.htm#oil091202-2
|
data upgraded 18.01.2003
related material
World oil resources
The Prestige:
Latest reports (Jan. 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Jan 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Nov & Dec 2002)
The Prestige
debacle, part 2 (Nov. & Dec.2002)
Another
potential ecological oil mess (Nov. 2002)
World
oil reserves and oil-based fuel development |
|
an
interesting analysis on the replacement of fossil fuels
with particular reference to the feasibility of substitution by photo-voltaic
cells and bio-mass. With some calculations. There are, of course,
several other routes to the production of power, such as coal and nuclear
power, with forecasts of several hundred years supply.
Also
a link to the alleged chicanery in the fuel industry
(Leads provided by D Lavigne.)
related material
World oil
reserves and oil-based fuel development
[There are two very different technologies for solar
roof panels: one which first collects the suns heat and the other
which collects light. With the first technology, used to heat water, generally
the hot water is run through radiators for space heating (the heated water
could also be used to generate electricity); while the light-collecting
technology converts light directly into electricity.
Remember, almost all power systems originate from sunlight. The major
exception is nuclear power.]
the web address for this article is
http://www.abelard.org/news/archive-oil1-2.htm#oi1211102
|
21.11.2002
related material
World oil
reserves and oil-based fuel development |
|
another
potential ecological oil mess
An oil tanker, the Prestige, carrying a cargo of some 77,000
metric tons of fuel oil
is in trouble off an environmentally sensitive section of the Spanish
coast, and it has spilled an undetermined amount of oil into the sea,
currently estimated to be between three and five thousand tonnes [16.11.02].
Be warned that every time
there is an incident like this, various conflicting figures will be quoted,
caused by wild guesses and general innumeracy. Nor can you fully rely
upon reports because of exaggeration by reporters or environmentalists
attempting to hype a story, and by oil companies, ship owners etc, attempting
to minimise the situation. Always consider the source of information,
and attempt to obtain a full a range of information sources as possible.
There have been many larger spills than the potential of this incident.
However, this is a major incident for recent times. The number and the
seriousness of spills has been steadily reducing, with a large improvement
occurring after 1970.
There is much data here,
but the page downloads very slowly an ordinary connection because of poor
html.
Largest
oil spills in millions of gallons (1990 list)
This list does not include the major disaster set off by madsam (Saddam
Hussein) in Kuwait (estimated at around 10 times the load of the current
oil tanker in trouble).
The very largest spills have been thanks to the benefactor of Baghdad,
in both 1983 and 1991; and to
a Mexican oil-well blow-out (about 140 million US gallons).
Some
photos of major oil spills. This photo linked shows one of
the largest spills, which are eclipsed only by the deliberate release
of oil, from many different sources, during the 1991
Gulf War (estimated at 250 million US
gallons), and by an incident during the Iran-Iraq
fracas in 1983 (about 150 million US gallons).
what
can be done? how large is the planetary spillage problem?
Some basic information.
This
site looks like it has some useful links, but I have not checked
out the links.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says a single [US]
pint of oil can cover an acre of the waters surface.
Thus if the complete load from the tanker off Spain was shed, it could
cover a maximum of 184,000,000 acres.
This is about three times the land area of the UK.
So far, 3000 tonnes have
been reported spilled. This quantity of oil is covering an area of 120
square milesthat
would be about 100 pints per acre (quick check only!)
1
imperial gallon |
8
(imperial) pints |
4.
546 litres |
|
1 US gallon |
8 (US)
pints |
3.785 litres |
|
1 US gallon |
0.83 imperial
gallons |
1
imperial gallon |
1.2
US gallons |
Oil is often
quoted in barrels and is also usually quoted in US dollars on the
international market |
1 barrel |
0.139
tonnes |
34.86
imperial gallons |
42
US gallons |
In
many other countries than the USA, crude oil is measured in metric
tonnes.
(The volume of oil is dependent on the density of the oil. The denser
the oil, the heavier it is; thus it takes up a smaller volume in
comparison to a lighter oil.) |
1 (metric)
tonne |
7.2
US barrels |
302
US gallons |
251 imperial
gallons |
1 million
US gallons (1,000,000) |
24,000
US barrels |
3,334
(metric) tonnes |
830,000
imperial gallons |
(Barrels have
also been used as a measure for various other items and the term varies
in quantity according to those usages.) |
|
1
hectare |
2.47 acres
|
0.01 square
kilometre |
0.004 square
mile |
1 acre |
0.405 hectare |
0.004 square kilometre |
0.0016 square mile |
1 square kilometre |
0.385 square mile |
100 hectares |
247 acres |
1 square mile |
2.6 square kilometres |
260 hectares |
640 acres |
1
nautical mile |
1.1508 statute miles |
1 statute mile |
0.8684 nautical miles |
1
kilometre (km) |
0.625 (statute) miles |
1(statute) mile |
1.6 km |
The
definitions above do not strive for absolute precision..
|
related material
The Prestige:
Latest reports (Jan. 2003)
The Prestige
debacle, part 2 (Nov. & Dec.2002)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Jan 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Nov & Dec 2002)
Another potential
ecological oil mess (Nov. 2002)
World
oil reserves and oil-based fuel development
World oil resources
Oil technical information and data
the web address for this article is
http://www.abelard.org/news/archive-oil1-2.htm#oi1151102
|
15.11.2002
related material
The Prestige:
Latest reports (Jan. 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Jan 2003)
The politics
of irresponsibility (Nov & Dec 2002)
The Prestige
debacle, part 2 (Nov. & Dec.2002)
Another
potential ecological oil mess (Nov. 2002)
World
oil reserves and oil-based fuel development
World oil resources
Oil technical information and data |