Project Deep Spill was the first intentional deepwater oil spill

Oil spill

An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...

, in order to study how crude oil behaved in-depth. A Joint Industry Project comprising 23 oil companies and the Minerals Management Service

Minerals Management Service

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement , formerly known as the Minerals Management Service , was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf...

 performed a sea trial in late June 2000 in the Helland Hansen region of the Norwegian Sea

Norwegian Sea

The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a...

. The trial made several releases of varying combinations of crude oil (750 barrels), marine diesel, methane (18 cubic metres) and nitrogen gas from the seabed at 840 metres below sea-level.

External links

• Technology Assessment and Research - MMS page on successful experiment