The federal government confirmed Tuesday that subsea clouds of dispersed oil have been found at least 40 miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The finding, which confirms what some independent scientists first reported last month, has renewed concerns over the effects of the oil spill on deep-sea life.
"NOAA is confirming the presence of very low concentrations of subsurface oil down to 3300 meters, 42 miles north of wellhead," NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a news conference.
BP reported this morning that on Monday it captured approximately 14,800 barrels of oil from the broken well in the Gulf of Mexico, where crude has been flowing since the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22.
As we've done since BP began capturing oil from the well, we've updated our Gulf Leak Meter to reflect that new figure. We've also decided to update the minimum leak rate on our meter.
On May 27, a government panel said the flow rate was at least 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil per day. We adjusted the ticker then, using 12,000 as our new minimum. That figure is clearly too low, since BP can't capture more oil than is leaking, so we've set the minimum possible leak rate to the next available rate, 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) per day.
"NOAA is confirming the presence of very low concentrations of subsurface oil down to 3300 meters, 42 miles north of wellhead," NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a news conference.
As we've done since BP began capturing oil from the well, we've updated our Gulf Leak Meter to reflect that new figure. We've also decided to update the minimum leak rate on our meter.
On May 27, a government panel said the flow rate was at least 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil per day. We adjusted the ticker then, using 12,000 as our new minimum. That figure is clearly too low, since BP can't capture more oil than is leaking, so we've set the minimum possible leak rate to the next available rate, 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) per day.
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