Deepwater Blowouts: Modeling for Oil Spill Contingency Planning, Monitoring, and Response

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper describes work in progress in the Environmental Engineering Division of SINTEF's Applied Chemistry Institute in Trondheim, Norway. The modeling work relies heavily on past and planned future field and laboratory work for calibration and verification data. Because these data remain incomplete, the results presented are tentative. The deepwater blowout model DeepBlow includes hydrate formation, gas dissolution, and separation of bubbles and oil droplets from the oil-gas-water plume as key processes which have been ignored in previous models, and which appear extremely important in determining the dynamics of the blowout plume. Time-variable vertical current profiles and the vertical density profile affect the depth of penetration of the plume. The oil droplet distribution in the blowout plume, combined with the above factors, determines to a large extent the time-varying footprint of the oil on the sea surface. Oil Spill Contingency And Response (OSCAR) model simulations demonstrate that mechanical response may be reasonably effective, or not, depending on the eventual correct values of key underlying parameters. Future field trials will be critical in establishing such values. The results demonstrate the usefulness of these models as tools for guidance of environmental monitoring and response activities during an actual blowout event.