Capturing Oil Spills and Killing Wild Wells with the Use of Marine Pollution Control System
Authors: Ortiz Angel J. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the Second Biennial Evangeline Section Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME on Environmental Quality, to be held in Lafayette, La., Nov. 13–14, 1972. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

Massive oil spills from tankers or offshore wells and small spills from bottom crevices are eliminated by confining the oil at the spill source before it becomes a slick. This is accomplished by means of a marine pollution control system that includes a huge plastic bag. Oil is pumped from the bag to a receiving facility. The marine pollution control system (MPCS) is a preventive and contingency measure constituting a complete, self-contained, light and mobile system of men and equipment that can be deployed on very short notice for oil spill containment anywhere in the world.

Marine pollution control system (MPCS) is designed to prevent oil slicks originating from massive oil spills from tankers and drilling operations or from small oil seepages emanating from crevices on the ocean floor or from underwater pipelines.

The oil slick is controlled and finally eliminated by confining oil at the source of the spill, then pumping it to a safe destination. This is accomplished by the use of a huge plastic bag placed under the water with the mouth around the offending crevice or crack and with the other end, which is floating on the surface of the water, discharging oil through pump suction connections. The bag is of an inverted teardrop shape. The small end, which is open, is the mouth and the large end, which is closed, except for hose connections, is the roof.

When the mouth has been placed on an offending ship's hull, a pipeline or the ocean floor around a spill, and the pump suction hoses have been connected to the roof by means of "quick-release" suction couplings, the system has started its oil confining and recovering function. Oil flows from the source into the bag, and from there it is pumped to its final destination.

The oil spilling from an underwater crevice or from a crack in the containing vessel flows into the plastic bag and upward toward the discharging end by virtue of its buoyancy and by the kinetic energy imparted to it by the oil source that is generally at a higher relative pressure. Once oil becomes confined within the pressure. Once oil becomes confined within the bag and has reached the hose connections at the roof, pumping starts through positive displacement, high-capacity pumps mounted on boats stationed beside and around the bag. The pumps discharge oil to barges or tankers for transport directly to the refinery for dewatering and processing. processing.