Abstract
It might seem incongruous that a research focused organisation such as the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry would pay attention to an issue as pragmatic as oil spills. After all, an oil spill tends to be viewed as a very practical matter, its issues characterised by loss of a valuable commercial product, damage to the environment, high costs of clean up, high legal liabilities, and very much media attention. Oil spills are not generally considered a pure or even applied chemistry issue. However, this would be a very short-sighted interpretation. Effectively every element of an oil spill, whether environmental, physical, operational or legal, is related to the complex chemistry of the oil and its breakdown products released to the environment. Indeed, it would be safe to say that if petroleum were a simple chemical product, the difficulties inherent in clean up of an oil spill would be much reduced, no matter what the origin or cause of the spill.
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