Subsea dispersant injection is a novel technique that was used during the Macondo deepwater well oil spill response effort. The API believes that this technique played an important role in not only protecting the environment but also the health and safety of workers in vessels attempting to contain the well. Industry plans to incorporate this tool in response strategies for deepwater wells. To support its use, API and its industry companies have developed a large-scale, multiple-year Subsea Dispersant Program to conduct controlled experiments to study:
• The effectiveness of subsea injection over a range of conditions;
• The effects of dispersed oil on deepwater marine environments;
• Numerical modeling upgrade needs that are necessary to better predict the fate of oil treated with dispersant and released from a deepwater well; and
• Monitoring tools that could be used to determine the effectiveness of subsea injection during an event.
API and the Subsea Dispersant Injection Program are conducting this research transparently. Each of the research areas described above has formed technical advisory committees comprised of external Federal agency and academic experts to help guide study planning, development of test protocols, and evaluation of study results.
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