Oil Spill Science

Our Oil Spill Science seeks to better understand how oil spills may impact inland and offshore environments, and what can be done to improve spill response and treatment strategies that promote spill site recovery.

Our areas of focus

CanmetENERGY Devon’s Oil Spill Science program develops knowledge of oil spill fate and behaviour, response and remediation strategies, and science for policymaking:

Oil spill fate and behaviour:

Pilot-scale spill tank containing oil floating on water’s surface

Improving our understanding of natural weathering processes for petroleum products spilled into offshore, nearshore, and inland environments by investigating oil composition and chemical changes that occur with time after a spill due to weathering (i.e., evaporation, dissolution, sedimentation, photo-oxidation, and microbial degradation), and how these changes may affect water toxicity with time and support cleanup endpoint decisions.

Spill response and remediation strategies:

Investigating oil spill response options by testing and validating predictive oil spill behaviour models based using bench- and pilot-scale experimentation (and, when available, information from spills in the field), as well as developing alternative response measures (ARMs) such as oil solidifiers and offshore oil dispersants.

Science for policymaking:

Supporting Fisheries and Oceans Canada to help guide future government actions and investments that enable Canada to grow its oceans economy by creating jobs and opportunities for coastal communities while advancing our conservation objectives;
Working with Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada to implement and further develop the Oceans Protection Plan;
Informing major project approvals and environmental assessments, such as the Trans-Mountain Expansion and the Regional Assessment of Offshore Oil and Gas East of Newfoundland and Labrador, while ensuring that the highest standards of environmental protection continue to be applied and maintained.