scope:

This Technical Report (TR) describes a methodology to identify waterborne oils spilled in marine, estuarine and aquatic environments by comparing samples from spills with those of suspected sources . It provides detailed analytical and processing specifications for identifying waterborne oil spills and their correlation to suspected sources. When suspected sources are not available, the methodology may be used to characterise the spill as far as possible with respect to the oil type. This methodology is restricted to petroleum and petroleum products containing a significant proportion of HC-components with a boiling point above 200 °C. Examples are: Crude oils, condensates, light fuel oils, diesel oils, residual bunker oils, lubricants, and mixtures of bilge and sludge samples. Still, the general concepts described in this methodology have a limited applicability for some kerosenes and some condensates, but may not be applicable for gasoline NOTE This method is not intended for oil spills to groundwater and soil. The chromatograms of oil extracted from soil and found in ground water may contain reduced and/or additional peaks compared to the source sample. Including such samples in this method makes it necessary to add extraction methods and to describe which compounds are possibly reduced and/or which additional peaks can be expected to change the final conclusion from a probable match into a match. This is beyond the scope of this guideline, however, when case samples completely match according to this method, the method is valid for those samples.