The Macondo wellhead is not leaking, according to the US Coast Guard's Incident Management Team and BP.
After reports from the Mobile Press-Register that oil was observed on the surface of the Gulf near the capped wellhead, the Coast Guard on Thursday sent a cutter and a helicopter to the site, found no evidence of oil, and said there would be no further investigation.
Reporters from the Mobile Press-Register traveled by boat to a location near the plugged wells after flyovers from the Gulf Restoration Network said they had seen evidence of an oil sheen in the area. Samples of the oil were found by Louisiana State University chemists to be of the same chemical make-up of oil released during last year's BP spill.
According to a separate Coast Guard news release, two ROVs from the Grant Candies were deployed on Thursday afternoon to survey the Macondo wellhead.
"The ROVs began an initial 360 degree survey of the well head at 5:16 p.m., with a 20-foot radius, looking for evidence of leaking oil," the release said. "Additionally, a zoom lens was used to examine both the wellhead and the base of the well head to look for smaller, less obvious signs of leakage. The ROV also visited the two relief well sites with negative findings."
The inspection ended around 2AM Friday.
According to the joint BP-Coast Guard statement, small intermittent bubbles were observed coming from cement ports at the base of both wellheads. This was consistent with observations and sampling conducted last year that detected nitrogen bubbles, a byproduct of the nitrified foam used in settling the wells' surface casing cement, the statement said.
Coast Guard officials consulted with other companies who have wells and pipelines in the area.
"No sheen was sighted Thursday in virtually perfect conditions," he said.
The video inspection of the wells also was viewed live by representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement; and Louisiana and Mississippi oil spill coordinators, who also agreed no leaks were viewed, the release said.
"Sheen sightings are frequent in the Gulf of Mexico and despite the fact each is fully investigated, the source cannot always be determined," Burton said.
Burton said that in the last year, the Coast Guard followed up on 2,231 reports of sheens, many of which turned out not to be oil.
He said the sheen observed by the Press-Register team may have come from natural seeps on the seafloor, which are prevalent in the area near Macondo. It also might have come from within the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig or other equipment that was damaged in the accident, citing the oil still surfacing from the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, sixty years after sinking.
However, there are still contentions that oil is indeed leaking near the Macondo.
Bonny Schumaker, president and lead pilot of On Wings of Care, an environmental conservation and animal rescue organization, made the original sighting of oil on Aug. 19. Her photographs from the air led to the newspaper’s visit to the well site by boat.
Schumaker returned to the well area on Thursday and Friday and made aerial photographs of hundreds of blobs of oil on the surface both days. She reported seeing one Coast Guard cutter in the area Thursday, though not near where she spotted the oil.
During the Friday flight, she guided a team of private researchers aboard a boat to the oil.
BP officials said they were not aware that Schumaker found oil Thursday and Friday, and asked for the GPS coordinates of her sighting.
Coast Guard officials said a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel would remain in the area of the BP well for several days waiting for calm sea conditions. Seas were flat and the wind was still when the newspaper found oil on the surface.
"We’re looking to see if we get another flat, calm day, duplicating the conditions (the Press-Register) had. We’re going to fly it again then," said Capt. Burton. "We have our spy out there and he’ll let us know if he sees those conditions, then we’ll get a bird up there."
Spy? What kind of "spy", Capt. Burton? Strange choice of words, IMHO...
But this is confusing to me:
She reported seeing one Coast Guard cutter in the area Thursday, though not near where she spotted the oil.
Click here for photo, which is captioned:
Oil blobs emerging on the Gulf of Mexico bear the chemical fingerprint of BP's Deepwater Horizon well. These photos were taken Friday in the same area the Press-Register collected samples on Tuesday, about 115 miles south of Dauphin Island in water 5,000 feet deep. (Courtesy Bonny Schumaker/On Wings of Care.org)
There apparently was a Coast Guard cutter in the area Thursday, that Schumaker saw. ROVs were apparently deployed that afternoon from the Grant Candies - which is a big-ass workboat, and wouldn't move very fast - to inspect the wellhead. Presumably the Coast Guard knows the location of the Macondo. Can we get together and coordinate our coordinates to make sure we're in the same block of ocean? If we really want to know the truth, then pin down the location, document, and hold some feet to the fire. It would seem to be to the advantage of all parties concerned (not to mention the Gulf in general) to get together, get out everybody's GPS and determine the exact location from which these blobs are coming. Then we can proceed from there.
However...
Info: According to Marine Traffic, the Grant Candies was located at 28° 43.37N / 88° 21.40W at 12:01 AM CDT Sunday. The location of the Macondo is 28° 44.20 N / 88° 23.23W. At 6:30AM Central, nothing was there; maybe they shut off the beacon.
A workboat - with ROVs, a moon pool, and a helicopter pad, and only showing up periodically on Marine Traffic - is parked over the wellhead. Not wanting to enter CT territory, but what the hell is going on? Inquiring minds want to know, damnit...
Info. No. 2... at 10:30AM CDT...Guess who has shown up in the general vicinity of the wellhead... it's our old friend, the Development Driller II. And there is another vessel that is obscured by the DDII - the second one doesn't show enough to read. The plot (if there is one...) might be thickening...
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