The 1987 Newfoundland oil spill experiment

ABSTRACT A joint Canadian-United States exercise involving the intentional spilling of approximately 18,000 gallons of specially treated crude oil was conducted off Newfoundland in September 1987 to evaluate the containment and recovery capabilities of three state-of-the-art booms and skimmers. As part of the exercise, data were collected on a specially instrumented oil spill boom in an attempt to verify a proposed performance test procedure for open-ocean oil spill booms. A viscoelastic chemical additive was used, after the equipment evaluation was completed, to enhance recovery operations. Additional observations were made on the persistence of spilled oil slicks in advanced sea states. The containment and recovery effort was successful, despite winds and sea states commonly thought to be beyond existing capabilities.