Oil spill containment is the first and one of the most essential operations of removing spilled oil from water.

The purposes of oil spill containment are usually confining oil in order to prevent its spreading, concentration in a closed area with maximum oil layer thickness to facilitate its recovery or burning, protection of sensitive to oil contamination areas, diverting spilled oil to areas convenient for its retrieval or treatment.

Oil spill containment starts as soon as possible after a spill, or as a prevention of damages from potential oil spill.

Containment booms serving as mechanical barriers to oil floating on water or spilled on ground, is the most frequently used equipment for oil spill containment.

There is a large variety of containment booms, and a decision about choosing a right boom depends on its purpose, conditions where it is used: offshore, inshore, harbour, river, land, marches and others, methods of booms utilization, methods of boom deployment and retrieval, etc.