New estimates of Gulf of Mexico oil leak point to possibility that total volume is larger than BP’s Macondo spill
According to Nola.com, a marine scientist has presented new oil release estimates for the Taylor Energy site, a toppled platform which has been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico for more than 14 years, whose upper limits are twice as large as previous estimates and could be larger in overall volume than the BP Macondo spill.
The Taylor Energy platform MC-20 Saratoga was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan on the 15th September 2004. The storm triggered an underwater mudslide which snapped the 550-foot-tall platform’s legs and buried a cluster of wells. Taylor has plugged some of the 28 wells and installed three pyramid-shaped oil containment structures.
At a Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Conference in New Orleans, University of South Florida scientist Shaojie Sun gave a wide estimated range of oil output from the site based on satellite imagery. He said between 2,100 to 71,400 gallons of oil are escaping each day from the Taylor Energy platform site, about ten miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River.
These estimates give a high of 375 million gallons and a low of 11 million gallons. At the higher rate, and added up over the past 14 years and four months, the Taylor leak could top the 2010 BP disaster by more than 241 million gallons, potentially making it one of the largest oil disasters in history. BP’s Macondo well spilled about 134 million gallons into the Gulf over 87 days in 2010.
The high estimate of 71,400 gallons per day is more than two times larger than the highest potential rate cited by the Coast Guard when it ordered Taylor to fix the problem late last year.
Taylor Energy disputes Sun’s discharge estimates, which show a steady increase in leak volumes over time.
The wells at the site were relatively low in pressure and required gas injections to recover the oil, Taylor says, making it unlikely the wells are leaking. The company says the seafloor is saturated with oil spilled when the platform was destroyed in 2004, and this is what causes the visible sheens on the surface.
The Coast Guard disagrees, saying it is not feasible that the source of the oil sheens could only be remnant oil being released from the sediments.
For much of the past decade, the Coast Guard and other federal agencies have relied on Taylor to track the leak’s volume and lead oil containment efforts. That changed late last year after an independent study requested by the federal government estimated the leak at 10,500 to 29,000 gallons per day – a far greater amount than any estimate from Taylor or federal regulators.
The Coast Guard directed Taylor to eliminate the surface sheen with a new containment system. When Taylor refused, the Coast Guard hired a marine contractor, Couvillion Group, and is billing Taylor for the work.
Taylor filed a federal lawsuit in December asking the court to rescind the Coast Guard order.
The work is unnecessary and could cost Taylor up to US$1 billion, the company’s representatives said. Taylor also sued the Couvillion Group, arguing that the contractor lacked experience with the leak site and could make the problem worse.
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Source: HazardEx