Economic Evaluation of Dispersants to Combat Oil Spills

TL;DRAbstract

Chemical dispersants for combatting oil spills increasingly are being recognized as a most valuable addition to the available means for damage prevention and cleanup. A study of oil spill cleanup costs enables one to apply a most useful perspective to the issue of costs. Based on public information sources where costs were reported for cleanup of oil that impacted a shoreline, mechanical methods ranged in cost from a minimum of $65 per barrel of oil to a maximum of $5000 per barrel. In contrast, costs for intercepting the oil at sea by spraying dispersant from four-engine fixed wing aircraft ranged between a minimum of $15 per barrel of oil treated up to a maximum of $60 per barrel of oil treated. The study spill sizes were 10 000 to 100 000 barrels of oil.

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