Oil Spill

Protecting the environment while producing, transporting, refining and marketing fuel is a challenge the petroleum industry must meet every day. For all of the benefits oil has brought to modern society, risk is inherent in taking it from the Earth -- in drilling wells, storing fuel for future use and transporting it from place to place. API member companies try their hardest every day to minimize these risks.Oil is a natural substance -- the beneficial uses of oil were discovered when natural seeps were found to have amazing uses. Called "burning springs," native Americans would skim oil from the surface of these magic streams and make torches of fabric dipped in the substance.
While seeps are natural, we have an obligation to protect nature from accidental oil spills from our operations that can damage an ecosystem. The petroleum industry is working closely with government agencies, universities and research centers to reduce the frequency and impact of oil spills. As a result of new operating procedures and research into advanced technologies, the industry has made tremendous progress in preventing spills over the past decade.
In 1997, the latest year that Coast Guard statistics are complete, the volume of oil spilled in U.S

The U.S. oil and natural gas industry supplies more than 65 percent of America’s energy. Bringing important commodities like this to our homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and the corner gasoline station involves some risk that oil will accidentally spill. Therefore, industry has made a commitment to meeting the nation's energy demand while maintaining safe and environmentally sound operations. This requires preparedness and continuous improvement along every phase of operations in which oil is produced, transported, stored or marketed.

n U.S. waters declined by two-thirds compared to the year before, representing the lowest amount recorded since the Coast Guard began publishing data in 1973. And more than three-fourths of those spills were under 10 gallons -- less than a car's fuel tank holds.

And these prevention efforts are bearing fruit. As Captain James D. Spitzer, chief of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations, states in a letter for the Pollution Incident Compendium: 1973-1997: "By nearly every measure, the volume of spills in U.S. waters has been on a steady downward trend since 1973."

When waves wash over fresh oil, they cause tiny droplets of the oil to break off and become dispersed in the water column. Over time, as the oil weathers and its viscosity increases, the oil’s resistance to break-up increases and tiny droplets of water become suspended in the oil. This water-in-oil emulsion may be 50-80 percent water and thus increases the volume of the oil spilled.