Is Oil Still Leaking from the Macondo Well? BP Won’t Release Any Information

Back in 2010, an explosion at the deepwater horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and resulted in around 206 million gallons of crude oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of three months, before the well was finally capped and sealed.

CBS News has just discovered that BP (NYSE:BP) is five days into a new, secret investigation looking for oil seeping from the capped Macondo well.

In September an oil sheen was spotted about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, and tests proved that it was indeed oil from BP’s infamous Macondo well. BP sent a probe down and saw that oil was indeed seeping from the containment dome, however by the 23rd of October they were able to declare the leak “plugged”.

Despite this declaration more oil, in sheens of varying sizes, continues to surface around the Gulf of Mexico, discovered by satellite photos and aerial videos. The culprit is supposed to be an unknown amount of oil that is trapped in the containment dome, and throughout the wreckage of the sunken oil rig.

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Ed Markey, who led the initial investigation into BP after the spill back in 2010, has stated that history is repeating itself. Once again BP is remaining tight lipped about the whole situation, and not releasing information requested by Congress, this is despite them having just pleaded guilty to more than a dozen felonies a month ago; including lying to Congress.

Markey is concerned “that substantial amounts of oil could still be leaking from the wreckage.” For two months he and fellow republican Henry Waxman, have been asking BP to release information on the size of the sheens discovered and show the videos taken of the leak in order to try and estimate the amount of oil trapped, but BP have refused to provide the information as it is still investigating the matter itself.

By. James Burgess of Oilprice.com