15
from 1 bar at the water surface to 817 bars in the reservoir; water temperature varied
from a few degrees °C at the wellhead to117 °C in the reservoir (Blunt 2013).
The range of spatial and temporal scales affecting the behavior of oil spills is also
large. Transport of surface oil may involve oceanographic features that span thousands of kilometers while “weathering” processes such as oil-water dissolution
operate at the molecular scale. Evaporative loss rate for oil that reaches the water
surface is greatly reduced after the first day, while biodegradation of beached oil or
oil dispersed in the water column may take months or even years.
The spilled oil itself presents an insurmountable problem for complete description from first principles. Rather than being a single substance, crude oil is a mixture
of thousands of hydrocarbons with traces of non-hydrocarbon molecules that are
known to the spill responder in only the most cursory manner. Moreover, the deep
water spill release is a multiphase process of gas and liquid hydrocarbons along
with entrained water that changes rapidly over short spatial and temporal ranges.
Fortunately for those researchers that have chosen oil spill science as their field
of study, it is also a pragmatic subject. Unlike rocket science, high precision is often
not required. Answers need only be as accurate as necessary to make educated
cleanup or damage assessment decisions. Approximations are allowed, in fact
required, and a great amount of spill literature involves discussion of the better
approximation for a particular spill phenomenon.
Several chapters in this book examine specific recent improvements in our understanding of spill mechanisms. Much of this new research is a result of the Gulf of
Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) launched as a consequence of the DWH spill.
A herculean task for those responsible for funding such investigations is estimating
for any individual study its importance and applicability to the pragmatic goals of
the entire field of oil spill science. Assessing a particular tree’s value requires knowing its connection to the entire forest. Therefore, this introductory review chapter
will discuss at least part of the forest, as it relates to our understanding of the fundamental physics and chemistry of deep oil well blowouts. A word of warning to the
reader: the chapter must neglect some important topics and cover others at a level
that may seem too basic to the specialist. However, the specialist needs to recognize
that outside of their specialty, they are themselves a novice.
2.2 The Oil
Deep oil spills involve crude oil, as opposed to petroleum products generated by the
world’s refineries and transported in the marine environment by pipeline or, more
commonly, surface shipping. Deep oil spills may involve a single reservoir or a
network of reservoirs connected to a common platform. In either case, the oil that is
extracted will change its characteristics over time, sometimes resulting in slightly
different behaviors if spilled.
Industry characterizes crude oils by properties that are important for commercial purposes, but these properties do not provide a complete description for
2 The Importance of Understanding Fundamental Physics and Chemistry of Deep Oil…
from 1 bar at the water surface to 817 bars in the reservoir; water temperature varied
from a few degrees °C at the wellhead to117 °C in the reservoir (Blunt 2013).
The range of spatial and temporal scales affecting the behavior of oil spills is also
large. Transport of surface oil may involve oceanographic features that span thousands of kilometers while “weathering” processes such as oil-water dissolution
operate at the molecular scale. Evaporative loss rate for oil that reaches the water
surface is greatly reduced after the first day, while biodegradation of beached oil or
oil dispersed in the water column may take months or even years.
The spilled oil itself presents an insurmountable problem for complete description from first principles. Rather than being a single substance, crude oil is a mixture
of thousands of hydrocarbons with traces of non-hydrocarbon molecules that are
known to the spill responder in only the most cursory manner. Moreover, the deep
water spill release is a multiphase process of gas and liquid hydrocarbons along
with entrained water that changes rapidly over short spatial and temporal ranges.
Fortunately for those researchers that have chosen oil spill science as their field
of study, it is also a pragmatic subject. Unlike rocket science, high precision is often
not required. Answers need only be as accurate as necessary to make educated
cleanup or damage assessment decisions. Approximations are allowed, in fact
required, and a great amount of spill literature involves discussion of the better
approximation for a particular spill phenomenon.
Several chapters in this book examine specific recent improvements in our understanding of spill mechanisms. Much of this new research is a result of the Gulf of
Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) launched as a consequence of the DWH spill.
A herculean task for those responsible for funding such investigations is estimating
for any individual study its importance and applicability to the pragmatic goals of
the entire field of oil spill science. Assessing a particular tree’s value requires knowing its connection to the entire forest. Therefore, this introductory review chapter
will discuss at least part of the forest, as it relates to our understanding of the fundamental physics and chemistry of deep oil well blowouts. A word of warning to the
reader: the chapter must neglect some important topics and cover others at a level
that may seem too basic to the specialist. However, the specialist needs to recognize
that outside of their specialty, they are themselves a novice.
2.2 The Oil
Deep oil spills involve crude oil, as opposed to petroleum products generated by the
world’s refineries and transported in the marine environment by pipeline or, more
commonly, surface shipping. Deep oil spills may involve a single reservoir or a
network of reservoirs connected to a common platform. In either case, the oil that is
extracted will change its characteristics over time, sometimes resulting in slightly
different behaviors if spilled.
Industry characterizes crude oils by properties that are important for commercial purposes, but these properties do not provide a complete description for
2 The Importance of Understanding Fundamental Physics and Chemistry of Deep Oil…