Sunken Rig Causing Major Oil Spill
Officials reported on Sunday that crude oil is gushing from a sunken oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a massive oil slick covering more than 400 square miles.
A fly-over of the affected area turned up a 20-mile by 2-mile slick derived from the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that sank last Thursday, two days after a huge explosion left 11 workers missing and presumably dead.
British oil company BP initially said there was no oil leaking from the site, but upon inspection from a robotic vessel on Saturday, two holes were found in the riser that connects the wellhead to the rig.
A spokesman for BP estimated that the leaks — nearly a mile underwater — were releasing about 42,000 gallons of oil per day.
US Coast Guard spokesman petty officer Erik Swanson, said the spill is serious. “We are responding as if it is already a very serious spill but we’re still assessing it,” he told the AFP new agency.
BP and owner of the rig, Transocean, are hoping to avert an environmental crisis as the oil continues to spill into the ocean. Both companies are facing lawsuits already from families of those injured and possibly killed in the accident.
BP says it has considered two options for sealing the leaks. One option would use a hydraulic tool called a blowout preventer, installed near the wellhead as part of the existing equipment on the rig, to seal of the source of the oil.
A second option, which would be more time-consuming, would be to set up a relief well. This would call for drilling a new hole near the well, intercepting the leaking pipe, and then pumping cement or mud into the hole until it is sealed.
Less than 35,000 gallons of the slick has been recovered as oil skimming vessels faced storms and rough seas on Saturday that kept the ships from operating effectively. Better weather was expected for Sunday.
“We want to fight this battle offshore this afternoon,” Swanson told AFP. “We have many resources we are ready to deploy.”
So far, the oil recovery operation includes seven skimming vessels, nine aircraft and three barges for crude recovery.
“Our response plan is focused on quickly securing the source of the subsurface oil emanating from the well, clean the oil on the surface of the water, and keeping the response well offshore,” said Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the coast guard officer leading the clean-up effort.
Louisiana’s’ fragile wetland ecosystem is at high risk form the oil spill. Environmental groups are worried that should the slick reach the coastline it would destroy what is currently a paradise for rare waterfowl.
There is still no news of the 11 missing crewmembers, more than 36 hours after the US coast guard aborted its massive sea and air search.
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