Updated: Feds order Transocean to investigate oil floating above well responsible for Deepwater Horizon spill al.com#incart_hbx#incart_hbx#incart_hbx#incart_hbx: Updated: Feds order Transocean to investigate oil floating above well responsible for Deepwater Horizon spill
Updated at 6:59 p.m. to reflect BP comment at close of story.
MOBILE, Alabama — The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it would require Transocean, owner of the drilling rig that exploded and unleashed the Gulf spill, to determine the source of the BP oil found floating above the wellhead.
The announcement came one month after the Press-Register collected samples of oil bubbling up on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico and sent them to Louisiana State University for scientific analysis.
The newspaper visited the well site 4 days after Bonny Schumaker with On Wings of Care and the Gulf Restoration Network first observed oil on the surface during an Aug. 19 overflight.
Coast Guard Capt. John Burton, commanding officer of the Morgan City Marine Safety Unit, said the agency routinely issues Notices of Federal Interest to companies believed to be responsible for sheens found floating on the Gulf’s surface. He said federal officials do not believe the well is leaking.
Burton said the Press-Register samples, coupled with repeated sightings of sheens in the area by Schumaker and interviews with LSU chemist Ed Overton, suggested that oil originating from BP’s well was making its way to the surface.
The notice stated that the oil on the surface suggests “the possibility of a release from the riser pipe or other debris on the ocean floor from the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon incident.”
“They did the survey of the well, and it doesn’t seem to be coming from there, so we’re looking at other sources. One of the possible sources is the wreckage of the Transocean rig,” Burton said. “One option is to send down a remote vehicle. Certainly a survey of the wreckage, a survey of the riser pipe is appropriate.”
The notice also says that Transocean may be responsible for debris removal costs.
"If a volume of oil has remained in the riser, there is no question that it is oil from BP’s Macondo well," Transocean PR spokesperson Lou Colasuonno said in an email.
"As owner and operator, BP is the responsible party for all fluids that emanated from the Macondo well head, and BP has repeatedly acknowledged that responsibility. Transocean has accepted responsible party status for rig fluids, such as diesel fuel, consistent with the law. We take this very seriously, and we are committed to working with BP, the Coast Guard, and other parties to investigate these reports."
In the weeks after LSU’s Ed Overton described the Press-Register’s oil samples as a “dead ringer match” for oil from BP’s well, federal officials suggested the oil might have come from another source, such as a natural seep.
Overton, who did much of the government’s oil sampling work during the BP spill, conducted additional analyses suggested by BP and federal scientists and ruled out natural seeps and nearby production wells.
He urged officials to conduct a thorough survey of the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon using machines designed to sniff for oil underwater to determine the source of the oil on the surface.
Petroleum engineers have said it was important to rule out other, more remote possibilities, such as oil bubbling up around the outside of the sealed well.
“Transocean will come up with the best way to determine if they are the responsible source,” Burton said.
A BP spokesman said the company would work with the Coast Guard to identify the source of the oil at the site.
"As we have said and the U. S. Coast Guard now confirms, the Macondo well is not leaking oil and is not the source of the sheens," said spokesman Ray Melick. "We will continue to cooperate with the Coast Guard to investigate other possible sources, including Transocean's riser
