Modeling of Oil Spill and Response in Support of Decreasing Environmental Oil Effects Case Study: Blowout from Khark Subsea Pipelines (Persian Gulf)

This paper presents results analyses of specific potential blowout scenarios for subsea oil pipelines between the coast of mainland of Iran and Khark island in the Persian Gulf. The analyses have been carried out with the SINTEF Oil Spill Contingency and Response (OSCAR) 3-Dimensional model system. Some hypothetical three-day blowout scenarios with light and heavy Iranian oil have been investigated in this study. Results related to scenarios demonstrate that wind is the major agent for advection and spreading of oil in the area. Within a few days, a large part of oil will evaporate; significant part will pollute the marine environment by depositing at subsea as sediment and hit the area beach. Also some oil spill scenarios are investigated to evaluate potential effect of oil spill operation planning for response actions in decreasing potential consequences. Mechanical recovery equipment systems decrease the environmental potential effects of spilled oil but do not eliminate it completely. Also dispersant vessels and dispersant aircrafts actions decrease potential of surface effects, but result in increasing the oil in the water column and increasing deposited oil on the seabed. This study is an objective basis for analyses of planed response actions and strategies for decreasing environmental consequences of spilled oil on Khark island area.