IncidentNews Home  >>  Incident  >>  Entry

Behavior of Oil - Kuwait Export Crude

Kuwait Export crude oil has an API gravity of 31.4, and a pour point of 0
degrees F.  The spilled oil formed three distinct slicks.  The first slick,
composed of approximately 219,900 barrels, drifted up the English Channel,
oiling the north coasts of France and Guernsey.  The following week, about
146,600 more barrels escaped the vessel.   Approximately 102,620 barrels of this
second pulse stranded on 200 miles of the coast of West Cornwall. One hundred
miles of coastline between Perranporth and The Lizard, at the southern tip of
Cornwall, were affected.  The third slick, estimated at 366,500 barrels, formed
on March 26 when the vessel broke up.  This slick drifted south into the Bay of
Biscay and remained at sea for two months, during which time as much as 50
percent of the lighter fractions of the oil evaporated  The west coast of
Brittany was only lightly oiled.

The formation of water-in-oil emulsions, containing up to 80 percent water,
greatly increased the volume of material and its resistance to dispersants. 
Approximately half of the cargo did not reach the shore because it weathered,
evaporated, or was dispersed by natural mechanisms.  For several months
following the dispersant application, many shorelines were recoated with
oil-dispersant mixtures.