UPDATE: Officials worked tirelessly throughout Sunday to try to stop the oil leaks coming from the deepwater well drilled by a rig that sank last week offshore Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, but have acknowledged it could be months before they are able to stem the flow of what is now about 42,000 gallons of oil a day pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.
The unified command for the Deepwater Horizon Explosion Response announced that the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit was located capsized on the sea floor approximately 1500 feet northwest of the well site. Remotely Operated Vehicles located two places where oil is leaking from the well pipe and estimates indicate that up to 1,000 barrels of oil a day could be leaking into the water approximately 5,000 feet below the surface.
The unified command, consisting of the Coast Guard and Mineral Management Service, in collaboration with BP, the responsible party, are working round the clock to determine options to contain and secure the spill.
During a weekend overflight, a 20-mile by 20-mile rainbow sheen with areas of emulsified crude was located approximately 40 miles offshore. Although there is currently no shoreline impact, Gulf Coast states have been notified and invited to participate in the Area Command Center located in Robert, Louisiana. On-water recovery efforts have been hampered by thunderstorms, rain and rough seas in the area.
However, onshore planning and staging efforts continue unabated and recovery efforts will continue when weather conditions improve. 1900 gallons of dispersant were applied on Friday and 33,726 gallons of oily-water mix have been recovered by surface skimmers.
“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 Adm. Mary Landry, Incident Commander and Federal On Scene Coordinator.
It is too early to know the cause of this incident but a collaborative investigation by the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service is in progress.
The US Coast Guard says BP is the responsible party, and is required to fund the cost of the response and cleanup operations. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, established after the Exxon Valdez incident, is also available to fund cleanups, if needed.
The Coast Guard search and rescue operation was suspended Friday at 7pm local time. During the search, rescue personnel conducted 28 sorties and covered more than 5,000 square miles.
Officials determined through weather patterns that the sheen of oil and water, now covering 600 square miles, would remain at least 30 miles from shore for the next three days. But states along the Gulf Coast have been warned to be on alert.
Louisiana is erecting containment booms around sensitive coastal areas as a precautionary measure.
At the rate of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, the leak would have to continue for 262 days to match the 11-million-gallon spill from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the worst oil spill in United States history.
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