BP Continues to Use Dispersant on Surface of Gulf

52 days in to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, enough concerns had been raised about the use of chemical oil dispersants that the Incident Commander, Admiral Thad Allen, announced "We're starting to limit the dispersants on the surface to where we need it for safety reasons..." The Daily Incident Report for June 11 stated that 800,000 gallons of dispersant had been applied on the surface to date and 370,000 subsea.

The Unified Incident Command has offered a daily report since the command was created at the beginning of May. Those reports contain a variety of numerical data, including the totals through that date for the use of chemical oil dispersants on the surface oil spill and subsea, at the wellhead.

The Operations Report from the Unified Incident Command for July 4, 2010 reports that to date 1,060,000 gallons of dispersant have been applied on the surface oil slick and 623,000 gallons have been applied subsea. Dispersants are applied on the surface by aircraft and by ships that have the ability to spray the chemical onto the floating crude oil. BP has a FAQ available on dispersants and their use in the Gulf of Mexico.

Analysis of the data available on the UIC website suggests little or no change in the use of dispersants on the surface oil slick. 25% of the dispersant used on the surface has been applied since the June 11 announcement that their use would be limited.

In the 23 days since June 11, BP has used 260,000 gallons of dispersant on the surface, an average of 11,300 gallons per day. In the period between April 20 and June 11, the dispersants were applied to the surface at an average rate of 15,400 gallons per day.

There are days when the total dispersant used far exceeds the average. In the UIC report dated June 14, 37,000 gallons of dispersant were applied to the surface and on June 28, 30,000 gallons. According to the information provided by BP in its FAQ, dispersant can only be applied under certain weather conditions, and examination of the on-line reports from the Unified Incident Command (UIC) shows that to be the case. June 29 to July 1 reports show no surface application, due to the weather conditions from Hurricane Alex elsewhere in the Gulf.

The UIC website provides the Material Safety Data Sheets for both dispersants in use, COREXIT® EC9500A and COREXIT® EC9527A. The Environmental Protection Agency has been both monitoring and testing the use of these chemicals on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.