Economic impacts of oil spills: Spill unit costs for tankers, pipelines, refineries, and offshore facilities. [Task 1, Final report]
The impacts of oil spills -- ranging from the large, widely publicized Exxon Valdez tanker incident to smaller pipeline and refinery spills -- have been costly to both the oil industry and the public. For example, the estimated costs to Exxon of the Valdez tanker spill are on the order of $4 billion, including $2.8 billion (in 1993 dollars) for direct cleanup costs and $1.125 billion (in 1992 dollars) for settlement of damages claims caused by the spill. Application of contingent valuation costs and civil lawsuits pending in the State of Alaska could raise these costs appreciably. Even the costs of the much smaller 1991 oil spill at Texaco`s refinery near Anacortes, Washington led to costs of $8 to 9 million. As a result, inexpensive waming, response and remediation technologies could lower oil spin costs, helping both the oil industry, the associated marine industries, and the environment. One means for reducing the impact and costs of oil spills is to undertake research and development on key aspects of the oil spill prevention, warming, and response and remediation systems. To target these funds to their best use, it is important to have sound data on the nature and size of spills, their likely occurrence and their unit costs. This information could then allow scarce R&D dollars to be spent on areas and activities having the largest impact. This report is intended to provide the ``unit cost`` portion of this crucial information. The report examines the three key components of the US oil supply system, namely, tankers and barges; pipelines and refineries; and offshore production facilities. The specific purpose of the study was to establish the unit costs of oil spills. By manipulating this key information into a larger matrix that includes the size and frequency of occurrence of oil spills, it will be possible` to estimate the likely future impacts, costs, and sources of oil spills.
- Research Organization:
- Advanced Resources International, Inc., Arlington, VA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC01-93EP79129
- OSTI ID:
- 10186611
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EP/79129-T1; ON: DE94001248; BR: PE0100000/PE0401000; TRN: 93:024072
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 15 Oct 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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