An Insider's View Into the Oil Spill Crisis

Before becoming an international war photographer, Dexter Phoenix followed his dad's steps in the oil industry.

Courtesy: oilism.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - My father and his father were involved in the oil industry, in both offshore and onshore drilling. Oil field work is one of the most dangerous occupations out there.

My father has been in two helicopter accidents in the North sea, as well as losing some very good friends through H2S (gas) blow outs!

These things happen even though oil companies spend an absolute fortune in safety and prevention with BOP's (Blow Out Preventions) serving as one example, as well as using some of the world's best educated engineers and chemical engineers. Most normally work for subsidiary companies like Western Atlas (now known as Baker Atlas) that monitor the wells' integrity 24/7 with equipment that spans out into millions of dollars.

People from all walks of life from all over the world work in the oil industry, and political motivation has nothing to do with it. Most of the time they are either attracted to the unique lifestyle, money, or it's been in their family for years.

No matter how much money they throw into their research, or how well trained they are, you will always get occasional accidents (when it comes to oil it's normally a "disaster"). BUT if you look at the record of their so-called disasters and mishaps, it still barely reaches all the cockups from normal 9 to 5 jobs that are surrounding us on a daily basis.

Oil Companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in research, and on cleaning up oil spills. Companies related to this kind of trade are called “Hazardous waste clean up technology for the offshore industry.”

They used to burn crude oil off the sea, but at the same time this created drifting toxic clouds that accumulated afterward. This was normally done by deploying floating booms, skimmers and chemical dispersants, to set controlled fires to burn the oil off the water's surface.

Now they normally use a Bacteria (bug) solution called OSE II. The so-called fertilizer or dispersant product, which is a unique biocatalytic system, creates a preformed multi-enzyme liquid concentrate. It stimulates and accelerates natural biological reactions.

When combined with fresh or salt water and oxygen, OSE II will cause crude oil and other organic substances to rapidly decompose, eventually biodegrading them to carbon dioxide and water.

OSE II can be used virtually anywhere that can sustain microbial life. It has been used in oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, all types of soil and rocky or pebbled areas.

It can also be used in marshes, estuaries, underground soil and underground water, and under buildings and immovable objects. It is particularly useful for drilling companies and pipeline operators working in refineries and oil tankers, as well as offshore drilling spills.

This native of Great Britain moved to Los Angeles in 2007, where he photographed general news, general Interests, sports, freelance model photo work, and also stock images. In his career Dexter has had photos published: World wide, in many magazines and newspapers and online. Throughout the course of his career he has experience with technology of all imaginable types. In his career as a photographer Dexter has covered stories in Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, France, Mexico, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Somalia, Tunisia, Algeria. Angola, Iran, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Colombia, United States. Email inquiries about photo purchase to Dexter at the above address.

You can email Dexter Phoenix, Salem-News.com Photographer/Reporter, at innocent_p0stcard@hotmail.com