About 70% of an earth is covered with sea which is being threatened by coastal & offshore activities for pollution such as oil exploration, exploitation, transportation and collisions of oil tankers are responsible for leakages causing oil spills. It leads to depletion of aesthetic and intrinsic value of marine ecosystem as well as wastage of millions tonnes of oil. Many scientist have tried to predict the possible transport of the oil spill and its effect on shoreline based on the mathematical model studies and various other parameters, however each of these require large data input. Review of the literature was made. Studies of a case study were made and attempt has been made to develop a simplistic approach to determine the time of travel of the oil spill from the location of the spill to reach the shoreline. Assessment is done by comparison of analytical results with available satellite data. These results are validated by conducting flume studies by injecting floating spilled material. From the present study, it was revealed that wind, waves, currents and tides are primary forces while density and viscosity are relatively secondary parameters governing dispersion. In this paper, efforts have been made to assess time of travel of oil slick from the point of spill to nearest shoreline likely to be affected. Suggestions are offered to analyse the complexity of marine environment and to predict dispersion before reaching to shore within few hours.