Category Archives: ocean pollution

Decomworld: BOP leak causes 25-day halt for Sevan Drilling in Gulf of Mexico

http://social.decomworld.com/projects-and-technologies/bop-leak-causes-25-day-halt-sevan-drilling-gulf-mexico?utm_source=http%3a%2f%2fus.decomworld.com%2ffc_nei_decomlz%2f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Decomworld+e-brief+2008&utm_term=DecomWorld+e-brief&utm_content=236075&gator_td=oVY2Um4dikhcF1X%2fN2G0dV5aOTy6vjkJlKMMaKMZdRZ74ohSjjcH4Dq0rSGiH8lDDsuL8OSl2e%2bfBOnmsevPLrIQr0F25i5an1p%2fKqwgSGzocE%2frvWRUQD9Zi8Q9nnYqIADt3gThoCCzaPrfoYWAH2Hwm1zXciJGNY6dtWSWiZIT2ZzOIclvqmB41k%2fs%2biMbKS%2fFu4RBJ4JRukWzR2sSRUjjUVyPQBHdF%2fU3kMO%2f1hUknGJQnvDYM620Gq5APavo#sthash.ehSISEnu.dpuf

 August 27, 2014
Ultra deepwater drilling specialist Sevan Drilling has announced a 25-day suspension of operations at a well in the Gulf of Mexico following a BOP control system leak.
In order to repair the leak it was necessary to temporarily suspend the well and recover the upper section of the BOP to the surface, the company said in a statement.
The incident occurred at the beginning of August and will result in downtime of more than 25 days in the third quarter, it added.
The firm’s rig, the Sevan Louisiana, began a three-year, $585.5m drilling contract in May this year for LLOG Bluewater Holdings LLC.
Headquartered in Norway, Sevan Drilling owns three ultra deepwater drilling units, Sevan Driller, Sevan Brasil, and Sevan Louisiana. Sevan Driller and Sevan Brasil each have a six-year charter contract with Petrobras in Brazil.
A fourth rig, the Sevan Developer, is under construction.

Reuters: Research shows Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused lesions in fish -scientists

 

By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Fla., July 9 Wed Jul 9, 2014 4:53pm EDT
ORLANDO, Fla., July 9 (Reuters) – Oil that matches the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been found in the bodies of sickened fish, according to a team of Florida scientists who studied the oil’s chemical composition.

“We matched up the oil in the livers and flesh with Deepwater Horizon like a fingerprint,” lead researcher Steven Murawski, a professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in Tampa, told Reuters.

He said the findings debunk arguments that fish abnormalities could have been caused by other factors including oil in coastal runoff and oil from naturally occurring seeps in the Gulf.

BP, whose oil rig caused the spill, rejected the research, stating in an emailed response that it was “not possible to accurately identify the source of oil based on chemical traces found in fish livers or tissue.”

BP’s statement added, “vertebrates such as fish very quickly metabolize and eliminate oil compounds. Once metabolized, the sources of those compounds are no longer discernable after a period of a few days.”

Murawski disagreed with BP’s response, saying the fish in the study had been exposed recently enough that it was possible to identify the chemical signatures of oil in their bodies.

The research team included scientists from USF, the Florida Institute of Oceanography and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. The work was published in the current edition of the online journal of Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

Thousands of claims for damages against BP continue to be processed since the oil and gas producer’s Gulf rig exploded, killing 11 oil workers and spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days after the April 2010 blast.

Fishermen in the northern Gulf near the blown-out well say they began noticing a spike in abnormal-looking fish, including many with unusual skin lesions, in the winter of 2010-2011.

Murawski said his team compared the chemical signatures of oil found in fish livers and flesh to the unique signature of the Louisiana sweet crude from the Deepwater well and signatures of other oil sources.

“The closest match was directly to Deepwater Horizon and had a very poor match to these other sources. So what we’ve done is eliminated some of these other potential sources,” he said.

Murawski said the team also ruled out pathogens and other oceanographic conditions. By 2012, the frequency of fish lesions declined 53 percent, he said.

 
(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by David Adams and Eric Beech)

Digital Journal: Methane levels from Deepwater Horizon ‘remain high’

http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/methane-levels-from-deepwater-horizon-remain-high/article/383984

BY TIM SANDLE May 19,2014 IN SCIENCE

Microbial activities in the Gulf of Mexico suggests that gas-rich deepwater plumes following the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout overwhelmed methane-oxidizing bacterial species, leading to high concentrations of methane lasting for a very long time.

Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible offshore oil drilling rig. In 2010 the oil rig failed and it was responsible for the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. At approximately 9:45 p.m. CDT, on 20 April 2010, high-pressure methane gas from the well expanded into the drilling riser and rose into the drilling rig, where it ignited and exploded, engulfing the platform. From this, the total discharge has since been estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gallons).
Although microorganisms played a useful role in helping to clean up the oil disaster, new evidence suggests that levels of methane remained very high after the incident because marine microbes in the Gulf of Mexico were less able to oxidize the large stores of methane released.

While gas-rich deepwater plumes were the most visual but short-lived feature of the spill’s aftermath, researchers noted that the overall concentrations of methane remained high. Scientists speculate that this was because the marine microbes that consume the compound were ‘overloaded’. The data gathered highlights the risks to the ecosystem from human-made disasters.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Geoscience, in a paper titled “The rise and fall of methanotrophy following a deepwater oil-well blowout.”
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/science/methane-levels-from-deepwater-horizon-remain-high/article/383984#ixzz321Uq0I7a

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Bradenton.com–Bradenton Herald Editorial: Florida still in grip of 2010 BP oil spill

http://www.bradenton.com/2014/03/11/5039425/florida-still-in-grip-of-2010.html

BY BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL
March 11, 2014 Updated 2 hours ago

DWH
The offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon burns in the Gulf of Mexico April 21, 2010. A huge oil slick remained offshore and largely stationary two weeks later, which helped cleanup efforts. JON T. FRITZ/MCT JON T. FRITZ – MCT

A confluence of developments over the past week show once again that Florida remains in the grip of the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Including Manatee County.

With the state of Florida joining a multistate lawsuit against British oil company BP, a new study showing sick fish as far south as Sanibel, and a giant tar mat washing ashore off Pensacola Beach, we’re reminded that this catastrophe has not disappeared.

And Floridians should also know that the specter of offshore drilling along the Atlantic Ocean has returned. The Obama administration has opened the door to seismic surveys for oil and gas ranges from Delaware to Cape Coral.

But a new study by the University of South Florida found that dissolved oil from the millions of gallons that spewed from BP’s Macondo well sickened fish and diminished their immune systems past Manatee County further south.

The USF study, published last week in the scientific journal Deep-Sea Research, connects the diseased fish to the hydrocarbons similar to the BP oil. The company disputes those claims.

The USF study also concluded that those hydrocarbons likely entered Tampa Bay as well as polluting the waters all the way down to Sanibel. That makes Manatee County a prime pollution place, too.

Florida’s entry into the multistate federal litigation involving the Deepwater Horizon spill is a welcome sign toward environmental restoration. This lawsuit is separate case, filed last year, from the state’s against BP over economic losses.

The BP oil spill has not simply washed away, dissipated by ocean currents and such. Not when measured by a 1,250-pound tar mat that found its way onto the beach at Pensacola Beach just last week.

About 9-foot-wide and 9-foot-long, as the Tampa Bay Times reported, this gooey slick, too, serves as a reminder that the oil’s impact will be felt for years and years.

Oil wetlands
An oil sheen is seen as oil oozes from the marsh platform along the shoreline of Bay Jimmy, which was heavily impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in Plaquemines Parish, La., Friday, Sept. 27, 2013. The methods that BP employed during its 86-day struggle to stop oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico will be the focus of a trial resuming Monday, Sept. 30, 2013 in New Orleans, in the high-stakes litigation spawned by the worst offshore spill in the United States. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) GERALD HERBERT — AP

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/03/11/5039425/florida-still-in-grip-of-2010.html#storylink=cpy

This is good reason for the U.S. Interior Department to reject opening up part of the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas exploration after 2017. Why harm sea creatures with underwater explosions during tests, likely injuring whales and dolphins?

Haven’t we learned the lesson from the BP oil spill? We’re still finding out about the ramifications from ocean drilling in our diet and environment, so let’s not revisit that nightmare.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/03/11/5039425/florida-still-in-grip-of-2010.html#storylink=cpy

Special thanks to Richard Charter

WLOX: Florida files suit against BP related to 2010 Gulf oil spill

http://www.wlox.com/

Posted: Mar 06, 2014 12:01 PM EST Updated: Mar 06, 2014 12:01 PM EST

PANAMA CITY, FL (AP) – Florida has joined a multi-state lawsuit stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, seeking to hold British oil company BP accountable for damage to the state’s natural resources.

The complaint was filed Wednesday in Panama City federal court by the state’s secretary of environmental protection and the head of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It’s separate from a lawsuit Florida’s attorney general filed against BP last year over economic losses related to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

Along with BP, the new complaint lists minority partner Anadarko and rig owner Transocean as defendants responsible for harm the spill caused to Florida’s ecosystems and wildlife.

BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the company is reviewing Florida’s lawsuit and continues to evaluate potential spill-related environmental damage.

Special thanks to Richard Charter