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 i

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.

Some topics in this essay:
, Advection Oil, Exxon Valdez, Coast Guard, Dissolution Light, Preventing Spills, Processes Biodegradation, Sedimentation Sedimentation, Properties Evaporation, Pollution Act, weathering processes, petroleum industry, oil spills, oil spilled, coast guard, oil spill, volume oil spilled, volume oil, soluble water, oil spilled waters, column oil, government agencies, spilled waters declined, components oil soluble, oil soluble water,