Environmental Studies Program Partnerships
Field Experiments of Deep Water Subsea Oil
Spills: The MMS Technology Assessment & Research and Environmental
Studies Programs are working together to support research on oil spills in deep water in
the Gulf of Mexico. The objective is to improve the understanding of the behavior of oil
released near the sea floor. While much is known about the transport and fate of spilled
oil at-or-near the sea surface, little research has been conducted to understand how oil
spills behave in the conditions of cold temperature and high pressure in the deep ocean.
Industry activities in the deep water are raising concerns about the transport and fate of
oil released by accidents near the seafloor in locations where the water depth is greater
than 400m. MMS, together with partners under the Offshore Operators Committee’s Deep
Spills Task Force, is pursuing the possibility of an experimental release of oil and gas
mixtures in a field experiment to observe the behavior of the oil and gas. The Norwegians
have already performed several controlled experiments of subsea oil spills to simulate the
conditions of a potential blowout, and model calculations have been performed on these
data. Their results indicate that while much of the oil may reach the ocean surface, it
may not be in a recoverable state. For some scenarios, oil may partition and change
behavior at other levels in the water column. Additional experiments will be required to
make additional detailed observations of the release, and to improve the computer model
skill for simulating the oil/gas plume.
For more information, contact Walter Johnson.
