ABSTRACT
Diesel oils were used in the initial OBM formulations but are known to be toxic to a wide range of marine organisms, due to the higher concentrations of the potentially toxic materials (2-, 3-and 4-ring aromatics) in diesel. More recently, a large number of highly refined, white mineral oils, with a much smaller percentage of aromatics than diesel, have been developed. These lower toxicity, or alternative base, oils are mixtures of alkanes, alkenes and cycloalkanes, and have been found to be less toxic to marine organisms.
