Have dispersants been used successfully in oil spill incidents here in Australia and overseas ?
Contrary to many media reports there is a well documented history of the successful use of Oil Spill Dispersants in stopping oils spills impacting foreshores around the world, the most recent example being the Sea Empressoil spill. In the Sea Empressoil spill in Milford Haven (UK) in February 1996, 72,000 tonnes of Forties Blend crude oil was spilt into the marine environment from the grounding of the vessel, along with 370 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil. The use of around 445 tonnes of chemical dispersants sprayed by aircraft onto the oil slicks at sea prevented at least 36,000 tonnes of oil, which is approximately 57,000-110,000 tonnes of oil/emulsion, from the Sea Empresscoming ashore in this sensitive region of Wales. The volume of oil that actually came ashore was around 10,000-15,000 tonnes; without dispersant spraying at sea, 5 to 10 times this amount of oil/emulsion would have impacted the foreshores. The environmental impact of this incident on sea birds, coastal waders, intertidal
