Subsea oil plumes found 142 miles from rig

Crude is moving through Gulf like ash from a volcano, official says

Rich Matthews / AP
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updated 2 hours, 6 minutes ago

Clouds of oil have been found drifting underwater in the Gulf of Mexico as far as 142 miles from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, government officials said Tuesday.

At a briefing, Jane Lubchenko, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said that tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface.

The oil was found 42 miles northeast of the well site and also 142 miles to the southeast.

Lubchenko said the tests "indicate there is definitely oil sub surface. It's in very low concentrations" of 0.5 parts per million.

There have been reports of such underwater "plumes" previously, but BP had questioned whether oil was actually forming below water.

On May 30, BP's CEO Tony Hayward denied the existence of oil plumes. "The oil is on the surface. It's very difficult for oil to stay in a column," he said. "It wants to go to the surface because of the difference in specific gravity."

This is the first time the presence of oil plumes has been confirmed by a government agency.

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Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said while the term plume had been used widely for several weeks, it was technically incorrect. "Cloud is a better term," he said Tuesday.

Allen added that one of the four vents on the containment cap was now closed.

Lubchenco said the oil could be compared to ash from a volcano, with the liquid rising in a plume and then forming an underwater cloud that drifts about the currents, NBC reported.

Scientists were using samples from three different sites to create an MRI-like 3-D picture to see where the subsurface oil is and where it is drifting, NBC said.

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"Additional work is needed to better understand the fate and transport of hydrocarbons within the deeper waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico," NOAA said in a document which detailed the findings.

The document said "a more complete and robust understanding" of the movement of the oil under the sea's surface was "critical," pointing out that there were varying sources, including natural ones, of oil in the sea.

Comment

Saw something on Hannity last night where some company has suggested hay be used to sop up the oil, as it is apparently 80% effective. A demonstration was performed and the water, afterward, looked pretty good. There was also some kind of cloth that did pretty well sopping it up too. They say nobody at BP wanted to talk to them when they called.