An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity. The liquid petroleum hydrocarbon is a naturally occurring flammable liquid (form of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape) consisting of a complex mixture of hydrogen and carbon of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth’s surface.
The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean, or the body of saline water that comprises a large part of the planet’s hydrosphere, or coastal waters, which as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the baseline, usually the mean low-water mark, of a coastal state.
Oil spills may be due to release of crude oil from: oil/petroleum tankers; a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil; offshore platform (oil platform), incorrectly called “oil rig,” a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing; drilling rigs, a machine which creates holes in the ground; and oil wells, a general term for any boring through the Earth’s surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. This could also be due to the spills of: refined petroleum products, an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, like naphtha, gasoline (a transparent petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines), diesel fuel (any liquid used in diesel fuels), asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas, and their by-products, heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil, defined as any petroleum-based or synthetic oil that, through the use or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose due to the presence of impurities or loss of original properties.
Another significant route by which oil enters the marine environment is through natural oil seeps, a place where natural liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the Earth’s atmosphere and surface, normally under low pressure or flow.
Oil spills can be controlled by chemical dispersion, combustion, mechanical containment, and/or absorption. Spills may take weeks, months or even years to clean up.
To: Newsat: Australian Satellite Commuications
The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean, or the body of saline water that comprises a large part of the planet’s hydrosphere, or coastal waters, which as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the baseline, usually the mean low-water mark, of a coastal state.
Oil spills may be due to release of crude oil from: oil/petroleum tankers; a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil; offshore platform (oil platform), incorrectly called “oil rig,” a large structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing; drilling rigs, a machine which creates holes in the ground; and oil wells, a general term for any boring through the Earth’s surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. This could also be due to the spills of: refined petroleum products, an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, like naphtha, gasoline (a transparent petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines), diesel fuel (any liquid used in diesel fuels), asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas, and their by-products, heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel, or the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil, defined as any petroleum-based or synthetic oil that, through the use or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose due to the presence of impurities or loss of original properties.
Another significant route by which oil enters the marine environment is through natural oil seeps, a place where natural liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the Earth’s atmosphere and surface, normally under low pressure or flow.
Oil spills can be controlled by chemical dispersion, combustion, mechanical containment, and/or absorption. Spills may take weeks, months or even years to clean up.
To: Newsat: Australian Satellite Commuications
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