New Study to Help Oil Companies Prepare for Potential Arctic Spills
18.11.2009 - Logistics, Human Dimension, Arctic
On November 17th, oil companies presented the results of a recent study which they believe will prepare them for any future oil spills in the Arctic. Because of the particular - and thus far mostly unstudied - nature of oil spills in the Arctic, seven major oil companies banded together to find ways to avoid another disaster like Exxon Valdez.
Researchers simulated oil spills off the coast of Norway and in laboratories and many techniques that work, although two in particular stand out: Burning out the oil, which works in areas where there are high concentrations of ice and snow, and using dispersants to mix with the oil and help dissolve it into the ocean. The presence of ice and snow can even make clean-up easier, as it can trap oil and prevent it form dispersing.
With its new plans to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, Royal Dutch Shell now says it will be using the new information to better train its response team as it begins drilling of the test wells in summer 2010. However as a number of environmental and indigenous groups emphasize, the most ideal situation would be not to have any spillage at all.
