With the expansion of the petroleum industry and the aging of facilities and pipelines, oil spills are becoming more frequent. In addition to environmental impacts, oil spills can cause changes in the plasticity and dispersivity of soils. To investigate the potential for dispersion in fine-grained soils due to oil leakage, soil samples were collected from the Shazand Refinery area in Arak and mixed with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% by weight crude oil. Specimens were prepared at the maximum dry density obtained from the Proctor compaction test and, after curing, pinhole and double hydrometer tests were conducted. The results of the mentioned tests showed that the fine-grained soil tends to disperse with the addition of up to 15% oil, and this dispersion increases with further increases to 20%. Changes in the soil fabric with increasing oil content were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, and the results showed that the dispersion of soil particles increased with increasing oil content.
