Cambridge Consultants unveiled work that it believes will give a much-needed boost to offshore oil leak detection. It has built an oil spill detection technology platform capable of detecting the natural fluorescence of tiny amounts of oil in or on water.
Crude oil is naturally fluorescent, so Cambridge Consultants says it has used its fluorescence experience to build the new oil spill detection technology platform.
'The environmental impact of oil and gas leaks has never been more visible to the public – with the recent disaster in the Gulf of Mexico – yet the solutions currently available do not meet all the requirements in terms of performance and reliability,' says Frances Metcalfe, associate director, oil & gas, at Cambridge Consultants.
Aircraft use long-range radar and scanners to detect fluorescence and many oil companies rely on visual reports. Many leaks are not detected until a slick comes to the surface and is visible to the human eye. The new technology aims to provide a compact system that can be permanently installed, such as along subsea pipelines.