Assessment of sediment hydrocarbon contamination from the 2009 Montara oil blow out in the Timor Sea

Environmental Pollution
Kathryn A Burns, Ross Jones

Abstract

In August 2009, a blowout of the Montara H1 well 260 km off the northwest coast of Australia resulted in the uncontrolled release of about 4.7 M L of light crude oil and gaseous hydrocarbons into the Timor Sea. Over the 74 day period of the spill, the oil remained offshore and did not result in shoreline incidents on the Australia mainland. At various times slicks were sighted over a 90,000 km(2) area, forming a layer of oil which was tracked by airplanes and satellites but the slicks typically remained within 35 km of the well head platform and were treated with 183,000 L of dispersants. The shelf area where the spill occurred is shallow (100-200 m) and includes off shore emergent reefs and cays and submerged banks and shoals. This study describes the increased inputs of oil to the system and assesses the environmental impact. Concentrations of hydrocarbon in the sediment at the time of survey were very low (total aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) ranged from 0.04 to 31 ng g(-1)) and were orders of magnitude lower than concentrations at which biological effects would be expected.

References

Dec 22, 2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Marcia K McNuttFrank Shaffer

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Citations

Jan 13, 2018·Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry·Lauren E SweetAaron P Roberts
Jul 12, 2017·Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology·R B SpiesK A Burns
May 7, 2021·Journal of Hazardous Materials·Şeyma KücükVolodymyr V Tarabara
Aug 13, 2021·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Xiaohua MaHongbin Wan
Aug 17, 2021·Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety·Bingchen WangHuihui Wang

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