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No, the Gulf Oil “Sheen” Is Not Oil Coming from the BP Wreckage

George Washington's picture




 

Now that the new oil “sheen” has been confirmed by the government as coming from BP’s crippled Macondo well,  BP’s fallback position is that the new sheen is just oil leaking from the wreckage of the drilling rig lying on the bottom of the ocean.

As Bloomberg reports:

“The exact source of the sheen is uncertain at this time, but could be residual oil associated with wreckage and/or debris left on the seabed from the Deepwater Horizon incident,” according to the statement.

 

***

 

“The most likely source is the bent riser pipe that once connected the rig to the well head, where a mix of oil, drilling mud and seawater were trapped after the top kill operation,” Brett Clanton, a spokesman for London-based BP, said in an e- mailed statement today.

Similarly, the Press-Register reported last year, in connection with a separate 10-mile oil slick linked to BP’s stricken well:

Scientific analysis has confirmed that oil bubbling up above BP’s sealed Deepwater Horizon well in recent days is a chemical match for the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed into the Gulf last summer.

 

The Press-Register collected samples of the oil about a mile from the well site on Tuesday and provided them to Ed Overton and Scott Miles, chemists with Louisiana State University.

 

The pair did much of the chemical work used by federal officials to fingerprint the BP oil, known as MC252.

 

“After examining the data, I think it’s a dead ringer for the MC252 oil, as good a match as I’ve seen,” Overton wrote in an email to the newspaper. “My guess is that it is probably coming from the broken riser pipe or sunken platform. … However, it should be confirmed, just to make sure there is no leak from the plugged well.

But there is not that much oil in the riser.  As the Washington Post ?reported Wednesday:

Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, said a rough calculation showed that the riser, if full of oil, could hold about 1,000 barrels of oil. Because it’s open on two ends it is unlikely to have that much oil, she said.

Indeed, Dr. Ian MacDonald - an expert in deep-ocean extreme communities including natural hydrocarbon seeps, gas hydrates, and mud volcano systems, a former long-time NOAA scientist, and a professor of Biological Oceanography at Florida State University- told us today:

The key statement in the BP discussion was the fact that oil recovered on the ocean surface was not biodegraded. This is not consistent with a pool of oil supposedly trapped in the wreckage of the riser, which would have been exposed to ambient bacterial activity for over two years.

We asked Dr. MacDonald whether the "drilling mud" which BP pumped into the riser might have inhibited bacterial degradation of the oil.

He responded:

It's not uncommon to observe mounds of drilling mud near well bores.  They are often colonized by the chemosynthetic bacteria Beggiatoa, which implies intense degradation of the mud by heterotrophicbacteria.

In other words, the drilling mud likely would not have slowed down degradation of the oil, and the fact that fresh oil is appearing at the surface in the Gulf implies ongoing leaks.

 

Where's the Oil Coming From?

So where is the oil coming from?

 

We’re not sure yet.  But top oil spill experts – such as UC Berkeley professor and government consultant Robert Bea and LSU professor Ed Overton – have told us that oil blowouts such as the one in the Gulf can create new pathways to the seafloor and enlarge natural oil seeps … so that leaks can continue for years.

And as we noted in March:

In June of 2010, BP officials admitted to damage beneath the seafloor under BP’s Gulf Macondo well.

 

Numerous scientists have speculated that the blowout and subsequent clumsy attempts by BP to plug the well could have created new seeps, and made pre-existing natural seeps bigger.

 

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Fri, 10/12/2012 - 20:13 | 2883517 knukles
knukles's picture

Amazing how he was declared dead in Maine and his body found drowned in Texas.  Or some such shit.

Remember, Goldman had just bought the company makes the shit they sprayed, BP's chairman was a Goldman alum/partner... and I don't remember now but there was a whole buncha shit related to Goldilocks... Oh yeah, puts on Trans-ocean or whom ever it was....

All sorts of related shit that any Conspiracy Theorist would have had a great wank to.  Glad I'm not one of them.  Wankers, I mean....

 

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:31 | 2882895 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture

Freakn' lasers

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 18:16 | 2883234 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

$1 million for that man.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:29 | 2882891 Randall Cabot
Randall Cabot's picture

Is this connected to the Louisiana sinkhole and the New Madrid fault??? Watch the video!!!!!

http://beforeitsnews.com/prophecy/2012/10/new-madrid-mega-quake-tied-to-sinkhole-perhaps-imminent-man-made-or-an-act-of-god-2442400.html

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 00:22 | 2883968 Money Squid
Money Squid's picture

When the ground the shakes like a mega quake is it god's hand or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoqSas2uFKw&feature=related

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 15:58 | 2882732 unirealist
unirealist's picture

I don't remember...  Which executives of BP went to jail for the Macondo spill?  Weren't there a bunch of them?

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 18:04 | 2883198 hannah
hannah's picture

denial....you people are just holobank deniers. the executives did go to the gas..i mean prison. i have proof. i in fact am opening a theme park at the concentration...i mean prison so everyone can come and see for themselves.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:21 | 2883080 seataka
seataka's picture

In Iran, 4 bankers were sentenced to death for FRAUD.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/iran-bank-fraud_n_1720906.html

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 20:23 | 2883551 Debt-Is-Not-Money
Debt-Is-Not-Money's picture

Aha!

We Now know why the Zionists want the US to do their dirty deeds for them and attack Iran!

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:12 | 2882806 Mad Max
Mad Max's picture

You probably missed it because it came right after over 3,000 bankers went to jail for mortgage-issuance and securitization fraud.  Boy, THAT was the trial of the century.

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 07:50 | 2884347 blown income
blown income's picture

Just 3k...Pat ,can I add a 0 for $100

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:39 | 2882933 NewThor
NewThor's picture

Hey. They changed the name of the regulation agency that did oversight

on the gas wells. Isn't that enough for you people?

/sarc

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:15 | 2882639 Kitler
Kitler's picture

For 87 days the ruptured well leaked an estimated 5 million barrels of oil.

There where many peripheral sea floor leaks observed around the primary well at the time.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=macondo+peripheral+sea+floor+leaks&num=10&...

The reason that the well was 'successfully' sealed was due in no small part to the pressure reduction in the immmediate reservoir after 87 days of free flow. The pressure inside the well since then has almost certainly been slowly building back up to the original reservoir pressures. If the seabed is leaking again we will know soon as it will be unlikely to stop this time unless they can reactivate the relief well.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:37 | 2882926 NewThor
NewThor's picture

Hey. Man, check out the Louisiana Butane/Methane sinkhole. 

That things a gas.

What did Edgar Cayce say? 

An oil spill would end up setting off the San Madrid faultline?

CRAZY, neh?

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:13 | 2883058 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

Gotta wait until 21-12-2012 when the Earth and Sun form a perfect alignment with the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The gravitational forces should rip a new one in the GOM causing a new San Madrid earthquake.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:46 | 2883155 Tortuga
Tortuga's picture

You might not be toooo far off. In the late 70's we were doing night frac's of gas wells for Amoco so they could study the effect of the moon on the formation. Those Amoco guys were always coming up with weird stuff to try to increase production.

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 00:33 | 2883981 mjcOH1
mjcOH1's picture

"You might not be toooo far off. In the late 70's we were doing night frac's of gas wells for Amoco so they could study the effect of the moon on the formation. Those Amoco guys were always coming up with weird stuff to try to increase production."

 

Ah yes....the late 70s, otherwise known as 'peak weed'....

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 18:15 | 2883233 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Maybe they can lasso in the asteroid Apophis on its next near pass and steer it to the mother of all frackings.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 16:58 | 2883020 pemdas
pemdas's picture

Seriously, if a rise in reservoir pressure is causing leaks, why not drill a new well and start production?

Sat, 10/13/2012 - 07:13 | 2884197 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

Because government and common sense cannot peacefully coexist.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 18:01 | 2883193 hannah
hannah's picture

there are physical and technology reasons why the well blew in the first place. trying to drill with the same tech will probably result in the same blowout....the strata hasnt changed.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:47 | 2883159 Tortuga
Tortuga's picture

Because oil sheens put off vapors that goes BOOM.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:21 | 2883078 MassDecep
MassDecep's picture

Because of all the regulations imposed on deep well drilling because of this incident .

See how the snake eats his tail....

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 17:16 | 2883065 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Because that would be practical, adult behavior, and out of tune with the sky is falling meme at ZH.

Also, POTUS hates oil.  He much prefers windmills and unicorn farts.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 18:14 | 2883230 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Maybe that new sheen is the snake oil from the purveyors of windmills, Chevy Volts, Solyndra and unicorn farts.

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 19:32 | 2883417 vamoose1
vamoose1's picture

and    kodak  too    they  needed  that  silver   inventory..............    and  who   do  you   suppose  the   receiver  in  bankruptcy   was....   nothing   serious    just    JPMorgan

Fri, 10/12/2012 - 19:15 | 2883366 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

It just Soul Glo

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