The Truth About Oil Spills
July 30, 2008
Talk about drilling offshore and anyone opposed will bring up oil spills. Just how often do they actually happen? I mean we hear about them on the news and see the animals being rescued, but what are the actual numbers? So I went to Jane Va Ryan, our API expert and asked for specifics. The answer was very enlightening. Here is her response:
I do have answers for your questions, and they come from highly regarded third-parties. First, the National Academy of Sciences reported the following information about spills and seeps for the years 1990-1999:
Amount of oil spilled from offshore operations = 0.18K tonnes. Amount of oil spilled from natural seeps in North America = 240K tonnes (To convert these figures to gallons, multiply by 300 roughly.)
The US Minerals Management Service has compiled some additional data that might be useful to you: Domestically, the OCS produces about 1.4 million barrels of oil per day. Since 1980 less than 0.001% of that has been spilled.
Here is the information about the amount of oil spilled from marine accidents and offshore production. These figures were reported by the National Academy of Sciences for 1990-1999: Oil spilled from offshore operations = 0.18K tonnes. Oil spilled from tank vessels and non-tank vessels = 7.8K tonnes.
Offshore operations spill significantly less oil than waterborne vessels for a variety of reasons — better technology, strict environmental performance standards, very stringent safety requirements, and the fact
that most oil from offshore platforms moves to shore in pipelines and is not carried by tankers which can become involved in shipping accidents. It’s also important to note that despite the fact that two Category 5
hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, plowed through major US offshore oil operations in 2005, the federal government reported no significant offshore oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico. The technology has improved,
and the risk to the environment has been reduced greatly.
While we have faith that our earth can clean up messes like this on our own and there really is no risk to the environment in the long run, we appreciate the information and now have the facts on oil spills. Thank you, Jane.
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