DOME'S PETROLEUM STUDY OF OIL AND GAS UNDER SEA ICE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The main cleanup of an oil spill originating from a late-season oil well blowout in the Beaufort Sea would take place in the spring. It is at this time that the oil trapped in and under the ice would surface to accumulate in melt pools on top of the ice. To tie all the previous work on oil migration an in-situ burning together, Dome Petroleum Ltd. undertook a major oil spill experiment during the winter of 1979/80 in the Beaufort Sea. The objective of this field experiment was to determine the efficiency of burning as a countermeasure and to optimize burning techniques for oil and gas released from a Beaufort Sea blowout under ice. The experiment took place in three phases, approximately 8 kilometres offshore from McKinley Bay in the Beaufort Sea, in first-year ice. Approximately 19 cubic metres of crude oil was discharged under the ice in conjunction with gas (air). This oil surfaced in the spring in pools thick enough to burn. Some 80 percent of the oil discharged was removed from the marine environment.