http://blog.al.com/live/2011/08/deepwater_trouble_on_the_horiz.html

Al.com

Deepwater trouble on the horizon: oil discovered floating near source of Gulf of Mexico spill (Photo gallery, video)
Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 7:08 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 9:10 PM
By Ben Raines, Press-Register

MOBILE, Alabama — Oil is once again fouling the Gulf of Mexico around the Deepwater Horizon well, which was capped a little over a year ago. Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of small, circular patches of oily sheen dotted the surface within a mile of the wellhead. With just a bare sheen present over about a quarter-mile, the scene was a far cry from the massive slick that covered the Gulf last summer.

Floating in a boat near the well site, Press-Register reporters watched blobs of oil rise to the surface and bloom into iridescent yellow patches. Those patches quickly expanded into rainbow sheens 4 to 5 feet across.

Each expanding bloom released a pronounced and pungent petroleum smell. Most of the oil was located in a patch about 50 yards wide and a quarter of a mile long.

The source of the oil was unclear, but a chemical analysis by Louisiana State University scientists confirmed that it was a sweet Louisiana crude, and could possibly be from BP PLC’s well.

The oil could be flowing from a natural seep on the seafloor near the wellhead, experts said. Other possibilities include oil trapped within the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, or oil deposited on the bottom during the spill that is slowly working its way to the surface.

The most troubling possibility, according to petroleum engineers, is that oil is leaking up through the seafloor surrounding the sealed well pipe.

Last week, in response to Internet postings by lawyers and environmental groups describing a leak, BP issued a blanket denial, stating, “None of this is true.”

Subsequently, the Gulf Restoration Network and Bonny Schumaker with On Wings of Care took aerial photographs of circles of oil floating in the area Friday. The group filed a report with the National Response Center, the federal clearinghouse for pollution incidents.

“We stand by what we said last week, neither BP nor the Coast Guard has seen any scientific evidence that oil is leaking from the Macondo well, which was permanently sealed almost a year ago,” BP spokesman Justin Saia wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday. “We welcome the opportunity to test any hydrocarbon sheens detected in the area of the well.”

U.S. Coast Guard officials said Wednesday that the earlier reports were investigated by flying over the site.

The Coast Guard determined that the reported sheens resulted from “natural seeps” and permitted pollution releases at other oil drilling sites. Coast Guard officials did not elaborate when asked how those determinations were made, and said that no boats had visited the well location since the reports were filed.

“I think the primary source with high probability is associated with the Macondo well,” said Robert Bea, an internationally prominent petroleum engineer and professor emeritus at the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Bea responded to Press-Register questions via email after examining photographs taken by the newspaper.

“Perhaps connections that developed between the well annulus (outside the casing), the reservoir sands about 17,000 feet below the seafloor, and the natural seep fault features” could provide a pathway for oil to move from deep underground to the seafloor, Bea said.

“Looks suspicious. The point of surfacing about 1 mile from the well is about the point that the oil should show up, given the seafloor at 5,000 feet … natural circulation currents would cause the drift,” Bea said. “A Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) could be used to ‘back track’ the oil that is rising to the surface to determine the source. This should be a first order of business to confirm the source.”

Oil analysis

Samples collected by the newspaper Tuesday were provided to Scott Miles, a chemist at LSU. Together with oil chemist Ed Overton, Miles conducted the chemical analysis that federal officials used to fingerprint the Deepwater Horizon oil – known as MC252.

“Looking at the fingerprinting, the samples were low concentration, so it is not giving a real good picture. It is possible it could be MC252. It’s south Louisiana crude for sure,” said Miles. “You can’t say 100 percent that it is from the spill itself, but they do need to get somebody out there to investigate further.”

Miles said he could smell the oil in the samples as soon as he opened the jars.
“The fact that it is right over the Macondo well site is pretty tantalizing,” said Overton, who was one of the first people contacted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after the spill began in April 2010.

“There is no way to say for sure whether the well is leaking, based on what is on the surface,” he said. “Of course it is suspicious.”

Overton noted that a number of natural seeps had been found within 12 miles of the well, and that those nearest the well would bear a similar chemical signature.

Phillip Johnson, author of the Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and a professor at the University of Alabama, said that photographs from the site were intriguing, but it appeared that a fairly small amount of oil was reaching the surface.

“There are two broad categories you would consider. One is leakage, and two is residual oil. I’d say leakage is pretty unlikely. That would imply that the seal on that well – which is about 5,000 feet of cement – failed. That’s unlikely,” Johnson said. “Then you think of residual oil that might be present in the 5,000 feet of riser pipe that wound up on the bottom. Large amounts of the platform ended up on the bottom. Those things could have oil in them that is slowly working its way to the high points and floating out.”

Riser pipe connected the well to the Deepwater Horizon rig on the surface. Neither the pipe nor the rig has been salvaged.

Johnson also suggested that heavier fractions of oil may have settled to the bottom during the spill. Over time, as bacteria degrade oil on the seafloor, the lighter fractions might be released and float to the surface, he said.

The Press-Register reporters located the area where the oil was rising to the surface by going to a point directly over the Macondo well and then moving in the direction of the prevailing surface current. The first blobs of oil seen on the surface were detected about a half-mile from the well. The frequency of the sightings increased gradually over the next half-mile.

In the Olympic swimming pool-sized area where the oil was rising most frequently, new sheens were erupting every few seconds on all sides of the 36-foot boat.

Marcus Kennedy, who piloted his fishing boat, the Kwazar, 115 miles from Dauphin Island to the well site, said he was stunned by the heavy petroleum scent in the air. A nearby data buoy recorded winds of less than 2 mph at the time.

Mahi-mahi and blue runners were schooling in the area. In the distance, yellowfin and blackfin tuna could be seen churning the water to a froth as they attacked bait. A 40-foot whale shark also surfaced in the area.
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Jeff Dute contributed to this report.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.adn.com/2011/08/20/2023935/our-view-shell-spill.html

BOTTOM LINE: North Sea spill underscores the need for a sharp watch in the Arctic. (DeeVon per Richard Charter)

Published: August 20th, 2011 07:11 PM
Last Modified: August 20th, 2011 07:11 PM

The oil that leaked from a valve on a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline in the North Sea has spilled into the question of offshore drilling in Alaska’s Arctic.

Drilling foes cite the Aug. 10 spill, which Shell pegged at 1,300 barrels, as an example of why we shouldn’t allow drilling in the Beaufort or Chukchi seas. They argue that too little is known about the Arctic environment, too little support is too far away if something goes wrong, and conditions are too harsh for effective spill cleanup.

Critics argue that Shell should have been more forthcoming about the North Sea leak and spill. Shell didn’t go public with the incident until two days after discovery, and then acknowledged a continuing small leak after reporting the spill was under control.

What should Alaskans take from this?

This should be a caution, not a show-stopper.

First, Shell’s 2012 work in the Arctic is exploratory. There’s a big difference between exploration and production, with far less risk in the former.

The Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar have said they’re confident Shell can safely handle exploration of what appear to be world-class sources of oil and natural gas. Let’s find out what’s there.

If fields prove up, production is still eight to 10 years away. More permitting will be required. We have time to learn more and prepare. During exploration, Shell can further refine its operations and build public confidence.
Second, let the North Sea spill be a reminder of the need for constant vigilance and no complacency.

Third, the only way to guarantee no spill in the Arctic is to never drill or produce there. That’s not realistic. Companies already produce oil in the Arctic with both nearshore and onshore operations and, onshore, the means to move oil to market. The nation needs the energy and the jobs; Alaska wants to fill its pipeline for decades yet.

What should Shell take from this?

First, constant vigilance and no complacency. That’s what executives Marvin Odum and Pete Slaiby have promised for Alaska’s Arctic. They must deliver.
Second, be forthcoming about everything — risks, mitigation, prevention and response.

If there’s a spill or any other problem, let people know right away. In the long run, that will go further to build trust and support than any effort to manage the message.

No spill is good, but let’s hope the North Sea spill is more lesson than damage. Let’s learn, and proceed with care.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-news-section/49-49/7123-flyover-surveillance-reveals-large-amount-of-surface-oil-at-deepwater-horizon-site

We set off a firestorm Wednesday (Aug. 17) when we reported that oil is rising once again from BP’s Macondo Well. We were informed by multiple, credible sources over the weekend and into Monday that BP had hired a fleet of shrimp boats to contain a slick sweeping across the old Deepwater Horizon site. Those reports supported evidence that we had obtained months earlier from our clients at the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN): A lab-certified Macondo Well (MC252) fingerprint on fresh oil coming ashore at Breton Island (see link to report below). So we already knew the Macondo Well was likely still discharging oil. We just didn’t know how or how much.

Hours after we posted our initial report on Wednesday, the Associated Press in London ran a story that BP admitted to “investigating a new sheen in the Gulf of Mexico,” but that it was not near “any existing BP operations.”

Only hours after the AP story hit, the Times-Picayune out of New Orleans (my home town) ran an article stating BP’s outright denial. From Mark Schleifstein’s article (posted Aug. 18 at 1:47 p.m.):

No oil is leaking from the capped Macondo well that blew out last year, destroying the Deepwater Horizon floating platform and killing 11 workers, a BP spokesman said Thursday.

BP also has not hired any vessels to clean up any oil in that area of the Gulf of Mexico, said spokesman Daren Beaudo.

A report in a blog written by trial lawyer Stuart Smith of New Orleans on Wednesday claimed that the well was leaking and that BP had hired 40 boats to clean the mess. A flurry of allegations and denials ensued. “None of this is true,” BP said in a statement. “We inspected our operations and our assets and didn’t find anything,” said BP spokesman Daren Beaudo.

We knew better than to expect any sort of candid response from BP or the Coast Guard who after all denied oil was leaking for a full week after the DH rig sank last year, so we were very pleased when Bonny Schumaker from the California-based nonprofit On Wings of Care (see link to website below) agreed to do a flyover. She took a four-hour flight out to the Deepwater Horizon site yesterday (Aug. 19) with Gulf Restoration Network (GRN) photographers Jonathan Henderson and Tarik Zawia.

They spotted oil – lots of it. So we now have damning photos of oil in the water at the “exact location” of the Deepwater Horizon. Clearly, BP has some explaining to do. From Mr. Henderson’s blog post on the Gulf Restoration Network website (see link to full report, photos and video below):

Šwe spotted oil on the surface above the exact location where the Deepwater Horizon and Macondo well are located, in Mississippi Canyon Block 252. ŠObviously, from the air I cannot confirm that the oil is BP’s and from [their] Macondo well. I can only report that I spotted oil above that location. I reported this to the National Response Center and had a lengthy conversation with a Coast Guard official. Notice that the oil seems to be clustered in round formations. I have no idea why or how this could happen and neither could the [USCG] official. The formations are clearly rainbow in color and in some cases have also a brownish tint.

Photos from Jonathan Henderson of the Gulf Restoration Network. The caption for the three photos reads: Oily substance on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi Canyon Block 252. While there were no boats or other structures in the vicinity today, rainbow and brown tinted formations could be seen covering the area where BP’s Macondo well is located and the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded and sank in April of 2010. The coordinates are N28 44.20, 88 23.23W.

We will be sampling oil from the scene as soon as possible to establish a chemical fingerprint, which will determine the oil’s origin. As for our report of shrimp boats laying boom, Bonny and her crew were not able to catch them on film. My guess is BP immediately disbanded any cleanup operation it had going when the story broke Thursday morning. What Bonny and her team were able to document is a large amount of surface oil at the “exact location” of the old Deepwater Horizon site.

We will be staying all over this story, and posting new reports and visual documentation as they become available. In the meantime, the public and particularly the people of the Gulf Coast deserve some answers from our federal government.

What’s going on guys?

Read my previous post on fresh Macondo oil coming ashore on Breton Island in late March 2011: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/is-bps-macondo-well-site-still-leaking-fresh-oil-on-the-gulf-raises-concerns-and-haunting-memories

Read Jonathan Henderson’s damning report and view his video and photos of oil at the Deepwater Horizon site: http://healthygulf.org/201108201718/blog/bps-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/breaking-news-birds-eye-view-grn-spots-oil-near-bps-macondo-well

Check out Bonny Schumaker’s flyover report here at the On Wings of Care website – and please donate to her organization to keep these critical flights going: http://onwingsofcare.org/protection-a-preservation/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2010/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-2011-spring.html

Special thanks to Richard Charter

New York Times
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August 19, 2011

By JOHN M. BRODER
WASHINGTON – The Interior Department is preparing to hold its first sale of offshore oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster last year, federal officials announced Friday.
The proposed sale, encompassing more than 20 million acres of the Western gulf, is scheduled for Dec. 14. It will be the first sale in the part of the gulf bordering Texas since the summer of 2009 and the first sale of any kind in the gulf since March 2010.
President Obama suspended leasing in the gulf after the Deepwater Horizon accident in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and spilled an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the sea. He announced earlier this year that lease sales would resume later this year, but all drilling will be conducted under stricter environmental and safety regulations.
“This sale is an important step toward a secure energy future that includes safe, environmentally sound development of our domestic energy resources,” Ken Salazar, the Interior secretary, said. “Since Deepwater Horizon, we have strengthened oversight at every stage of the oil and gas development process, including deepwater drilling safety, subsea blowout containment, and spill response capability.
“Exploration and development of our western gulf’s vital energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy,” he added.
The lease offering includes parcels from nine to 250 miles offshore and in water depths from 16 to nearly 11,000 feet. The Interior Department estimates that the tract could produce 222 million to 423 million barrels of oil and 1.49 trillion to 2.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The agency is raising the minimum bid on leases in water deeper than 1,312 feet to $100 an acre from $37.50 to encourage companies to actively explore those areas and to compensate for the higher costs of dealing with a spill. Obama administration officials have complained that oil companies have locked up millions of acres of onshore and offshore oil resources but have not produced oil from them.
Officials said the change was based on an analysis of the last 15 years of lease sales in the gulf, which found that leases that received high bids of less than $100 an acre have experienced virtually no exploration and development. Regulators said they concluded that raising the minimum bid would discourage companies from purchasing leases and then sitting on them for years.
Officials of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said they could not yet gauge industry interest in the parcels to be offered. Nor could they estimate how much money the government would reap from the auction, known as lease sale 218.
The last western gulf sale, held in August 2009, covered 18.4 million acres and brought in $111 million.
The last lease sale before the BP blowout and spill was in the central Gulf of Mexico. It covered almost 37 million acres and yielded $920 million.
The ocean energy management bureau “has taken aggressive steps to renew our commitment to the responsible stewardship of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf,” said Michael R. Bromwich, director of the agency, which is responsible for monitoring offshore operations. “The decision to hold this sale was made after careful analysis of the best scientific information available and consideration of all public comments received.”
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http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/December-Gulf-lease-requires-higher-minimum-bids-2133335.php

Houston Chronicle

December Gulf lease requires higher minimum bids
By JENNIFER A. DLOUHY, WASHINGTON BUREAU
Published 08:15 p.m., Friday, August 19, 2011

Oil and gas companies will have a shot at buying new drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico this December – but this year, they will pay a higher price to participate in the sale.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement confirmed Friday it is raising the cost of buying the leases in the western Gulf of Mexico. According to the agency, companies will now have to pay minimum bids of $100 per acre, up from $37.50 per acre previously for most tracts in the Gulf. The sale is set for Dec. 14.

The minimum bid for leases in already well-explored shallower water depths will remain unchanged at $25 per acre. The fee increase – and other details of the sale- were formally unveiled by the ocean energy bureau Friday.

Obama administration officials said the increase was justified because historically, leases purchased for less than $100 per acre have not been rigorously explored or developed.
“Raising the minimum bid will discourage companies from purchasing leases they are unlikely to explore in the near term,” the ocean energy bureau said.

The increase is part of an “effort to ensure that areas with the greatest resource potential are developed and to decrease the amount of leased acreage that is warehoused and goes unexplored,” BOEMRE director Michael Bromwich said in a statement. “The change in terms will better ensure that the nation’s resources are being developed in a timely manner.”

The lease sale – delayed because of last year’s oil spill – will take place in New Orleans. Dubbed Lease Sale 218, it will cover all available unleased areas – 3,900 blocks covering 20.6 million acres – in the western Gulf planning area off the Texas coast.

The National Ocean Industries Association, which represents more than 250 companies in the offshore energy sector, applauded the announcement. “This sale marks a key step toward restoring American jobs,” said Randall Luthi, NOIA president. “We look forward to continuing to work with the agency in ensuring clarity and efficiency in the leasing and permitting process while safely providing the offshore energy resources that help fuel America and our economy.”

Erik Milito, the upstream director for the American Petroluem Institute, also cheered the scheduling of the sale – the first of its kind since March 2010 – but was unenthusiastic about the planned cost increase.

A hasty move?

“We are hopeful that this does not discourage investment in these vital domestic resources,” Milito said. “We caution efforts that discourage investment in U.S. resources during this time of economic and regulatory uncertainty.”

But the administration insisted after reviewing historical auction data, “the increase will have little to no adverse impact on the timing or magnitude of production from tracts in this sale.”

Environmentalists said the administration was moving hastily.

“Rushing this lease sale puts marine ecosystems at risk before the ink is even dry on the impacts of the BP spill,” said Jacqueline Savitz, senior campaign director for the ocean conservation group Oceana. “BOEMRE appears to be caving to intense pressure from the oil industry to return to ‘business as usual,’ without regard for the extraordinary risks to already imperiled marine animals.”

The ocean energy bureau put the western Gulf sale on hold to complete a new environmental analysis of the region that was spurred by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The research updates an older environmental impact statement conducted before the Gulf spill.

The sale queued up for December is generally viewed as less commercially attractive than a separate planned auction of deep-water tracts in the central Gulf region. That planning area includes areas near the Macondo well that blew out last year.

Bromwich has previously confirmed that a sale of central Gulf leases is on track for the first half of next year – before the end of the current five-year plan that governs oil and gas leases on the outer continental shelf. That plan expires on June 30.

jennifer.dlouhy@chron.com

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CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/19/gulf.lease.sale/#1_undefined,0_

U.S. to hold first Gulf lease sale since Deepwater Horizon spill
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 19, 2011 9:03 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The sale will include more than 20 million acres in the western Gulf
“We have strengthened oversight at every stage,” says Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
The explosion on the Deepwater rig led to the release of more than 200 million gallons of oil
11 people working on the rig died in the explosion, while 16 others were injured

(CNN) — The U.S. government said on Friday it would hold its first oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill last year.

The proposed sale, scheduled for mid-December in New Orleans, will include more than 20 million acres in the western Gulf, according a statement from the Department of the Interior.

“This sale is an important step toward a secure energy future that includes safe, environmentally sound development of our domestic energy resources,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

“Since Deepwater Horizon, we have strengthened oversight at every stage of the oil and gas development process, including deepwater drilling safety, subsea blowout containment, and spill response capability. Exploration and development of our Western Gulf’s vital energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy,” he said.

The April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig led to more than 200 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf. Eleven people working on the rig died in the explosion, while 16 others were injured.

Besides the oil, hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemical dispersant went into the water. At the peak of the crisis, in June 2010, 37% of Gulf waters — a total of 88,522 square miles — were closed to fishing due to contamination.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 222 million to 423 million barrels of oil and 1.49 trillion to 2.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The agency is hoping to increase the minimum bid for blocks in water depths of 400 meters and greater to $100 per acre, up from $37.50, according to the statement. It said leases that received high bids of less than $100 per acre have experienced virtually no exploration and development activities.

“The change in terms will better ensure that the nation’s resources are being developed in a timely manner,” said BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich.

In October, Salazar announced that the U.S. government was lifting the moratorium on deep-water oil drilling put in place after the Gulf oil disaster.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/08/bp_investigating_new_oil_sheen.html

Times-Picayune

Oil giant BP says it is investigating a new sheen in the Gulf of Mexico

Published: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 6:03 AM Updated: Thursday, August 18, 2011, 6:03 AM
By The Associated Press

Patrick Semansky, The Associated Press

Oil giant BP said Thursday it is investigating a new oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico, like this one near the Mocando oil well in July 2010. The company did not disclose the location, but did say it was not near any of their current operations.

A catastrophic explosion at the energy giant’s Macondo well in the Gulf on April 2010 killed 11 men and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
BP did not make clear Thursday what the source of the new sheen was, but told The Associated Press in London it was not found near “any existing BP operations.” A sheen is a shiny coating that floats on the surface of the water, and could come from leaked or spilled oil.

London-based BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams said that “there is a lot of sheen in the Gulf of Mexico area” and that the substance did not necessarily come from a BP site or well.

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http://www.news-journalonline.com/breakingnews/2011/08/bp-oil-sheen-probed-in-gulf-of-mexico.html

The Daytona Beach News Journal

Remote mini-sub probes Gulf of Mexico oil sheen
ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 18, 2011 7:15 AM

LONDON — Oil giant BP is investigating a new sheen in the Gulf of Mexico with a remote-controlled mini-sub but says there is no immediate indication it was the result of a new oil spill.

A catastrophic April 2010 explosion at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf killed 11 men and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, although BP’s description of the site of the new sheen and a statement from a U.S. official seemed to indicate that the discovery wasn’t near where the Macondo well blew up.

A sheen is a shiny coating that floats on the surface of the water, and could come from leaked or spilled oil. BP did not make clear what the source of the sheen was, but told The Associated Press it was not found near “any existing BP operations.”

BP said in a statement today the sheen was found near two abandoned exploration well sites in the Green Canyon Block in the Gulf of Mexico. According to an online map by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Green Canyon Block — a large square-shaped area of water south of Louisiana — is south and west of the Mississippi Canyon Block where BP’s Macondo well blew up.

“They are not investing any sheens in the vicinity of the BP well,” Paul Barnard, Operations Controller for New Orleans’ sector of the Coast Guard, told the AP today.
U.S.-based BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said the company had sent a remotely operated mini-sub to examine the abandoned exploration wells over the weekend.

Some oil naturally seeps from the floor of the Gulf, and the AP has reported that at least 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the Gulf are not routinely inspected when plugged or subsequently monitored for leaks.

BP’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico have seen particular scrutiny following the 2010 disaster and it remains the area’s largest leaseholder, but other energy companies have operations in the Gulf as well.

Special thanks to Richard Charter