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Title: Pollution by petroleum hydrocarbons in sediments from continental shelf of Tabasco State, Mexico

Journal Article · · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01700947· OSTI ID:7236337
; ;  [1]
  1. National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Mexico City (Mexico)

The Wider Caribbean is potentially one of the largest oil producing areas in the world. Major petroleum production areas include Louisiana and Texas, USA; the Bay of Campeche, Mexico; Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela; and Gulf of Paria, Trinidad; all of which are classified as production accident high-risk zones. About 5 million of barrels are transported every day in the Caribbean, thus generating an intense tanker traffic. It has been estimated that oil discharges from tank washings within the Wider Caribbean could be as high as 7 million barrels/year. For all those reasons petroleum pollution is considered as the major environmental problem in the Wider Caribbean area and increasing day to day due to the use of petroleum as the main energy source. On the other hand, the continental shelf of Tabasco state actually represents one of the most productive areas for crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Sediments were collected from this area and analyzed for hydrocarbons.

OSTI ID:
7236337
Journal Information:
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (United States), Vol. 47:4; ISSN 0007-4861
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English