Deepwater Program: Literature Review, Environmental Risks of Chemical Products Used in Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Oil and Gas Operations, Volume 1: Technical Report

The United States Minerals Management Service (MMS) is mandated to manage the development of GOM oil and natural gas resources, while also ensuring safe operations and protection of the human and natural environment. As a part of this overall management responsibility, the MMS must consider possible impacts from chemicals used in oil and gas development to both the natural and human socio-economic environments. To accomplish this,an understanding of the types and quantities of chemical products used offshore, especially in deep water, as well as their potential impact is needed. This report identifies the types of chemicals used in the GOM via an extensive inventory. It presents their properties, toxicity,usage patterns, and storage and handling practices. Through the use of spill modeling, the potential for environmental risk for a select group of chemicals is evaluated. In addition, this report includes an overview of relevant legislation.