ABSTRACT
Canadian Marine Drilling (Canmar), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dome Petroleum Ltd., is conducting exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea with the objective of on-stream production by the mid-1980s.
If a major oil well blow-out should occur, and the probability of such an occurrence is very small, (Bercha, 1977), oil would be released to the surface of the sea until a relief well could be drilled or the well sealed itself. The relief well could be drilled during the same drill season, or, in the worst case, it might not be completed until the following year. Therefore, Dome could be faced with the problem of cleaning up an oil spill during open-water, freeze-up, and winter or spring break-up conditions. To this end, Dome has developed a contingency plan, based on, and updated according to, its ongoing research and development programs to deal with an oil spill during each of the above-mentioned periods of time. To date, Dome has invested approximately $10 million in its research and development programs.
This paper deals with Dome's research and development in oil spill countermeasures for its present ongoing exploration activities and its future production and transportation systems.