Evaluation of the Oil Spill Accident in Bohai Sea, China

Abstract

In 2006, floating oil slicks as well as discrete patches of oil contamination were found on several islands and mainland beaches in Bohai Sea, China. Potential sources of spilled oil included nearby offshore oil platforms and oil tankers transporting crude oil. In response to this specific site investigation need, hundreds of crude oil samples from nearby platforms were obtained and a tiered analytical approach using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC–FID) was applied. Based on the evaluation of a variety of diagnostic ratios of “source-specific marker” compounds, this research established that a single oil spill accident was most probably responsible for the observed oil contamination. Further investigation linked the spilled oil to an oil tanker transporting crude oil from a remote oil platform in South China Sea rather than crude oil from any of the production platforms in Bohai Sea.