MC 252 Oil Characterization from parent sample collected from the Q4000 Well Intervention vessel on June 19, 2010

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) researchers have been interested in the physical and chemical characterization of the Mississippi Canyon lease block 252 (MC-252) oil and have requested aliquots of this oil from BP in order to determine these characteristics. Since quantities of this oil are limited, BP has prepared this summary to provide researchers with a detailed description of the oil’s physical and chemical properties so that they do not have to replicate experimental analyses on the source material. Data included with this report relate to MC-252 oil collected from the Q4000 Well Intervention vessel on June 19, 2010, often referred to as Q4000 oil. The Q4000 oil, which is considered an unweathered oil, was collected at ambient temperature and pressure after gas and water separation and so is considered a dead oil relative to the reservoir oil. The chemical parameters provided in this data posting include: Parent and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) Saturated hydrocarbons (SHCs) Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and diesel range organics (DRO) Benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes (BTEX) and other volatile hydrocarbons classified as paraffins, isoparaffins, aromatics, naphthenes, and olefins (PIANO) Geochemical biomarkers (sterane and triterpane) Selected metals Carbon stable isotopes for whole oil and saturate, aromatic, resin, and asphaltene fractions Selected physical properties. Results presented here were not generated as part of a specific study to characterize the oil but rather were compiled using results associated with other studies when the need to provide GOM researchers with a detailed summary of the physical and chemical properties of MC-252 was realized. The Q4000 oil was also used by laboratories as an MC-252 control oil for analyses of SHCs, PAHs, and petroleum biomarkers. Seven analyses of MC-252 control oils analyzed during the period of January–March 2011 by Battelle Duxbury Operations in Duxbury, Massachusetts, were compiled for this oil characterization. Results in the data posting for physical properties, metals, carbon stable isotopes, and PIANO were compiled from other datasets and combined with the hydrocarbon chemistry data into a unified set of physical and chemical properties.