Tag Archives: bp

Dispersant from Deepwater Horizon Spill Found to Persist in the Environment

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest accidental release of oil into the ocean, with approximately 210 million gallons gushing from the blown out well. In an attempt to prevent vast quantities of oil from fouling beaches and marshes, BP applied 1.84 million gallons of chemical dispersant to oil to oil released in the subsurface and to oil slicks at the sea surface. The dispersant was thought to rapidly degrade in the environment. (more…)

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Scientists Train the Next Generation on Oil Spill Research

As part of on-going research nearly four years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will team up with a group of high school students in Florida to collect remnants of oil from Gulf Coast beaches this week.

Marine chemist Chris Reddy studies how the many compounds that compose petroleum hydrocarbon, or oil, behave and change over time after an oil spill. He and his researchers have collected and analyzed about 1,000 oil samples from the Gulf Coast since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (more…)

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Study Identifies Deepwater Horizon Debris as Likely Source of Gulf of Mexico Oil Sheens

A chemical analysis of oil sheens found floating recently at the ocean’s surface near the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster indicates that the source is pockets of oil trapped within the wreckage of the sunken rig. Both the Macondo well and natural oil seeps common to the Gulf of Mexico were confidently ruled out.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) used a recently-patented method to fingerprint the chemical makeup of the sheens and to estimate the location of the source based on the extent to which gasoline-like compounds evaporated from the oil sheens. The study was published online in Environmental Science & Technology. (more…)

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BP Returns to Profit, Estimates Oil Spill at $40 Billion

Energy giant BP announced a return to profit on Tuesday but revealed new shock estimates for the cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, putting the expected bill at close to $40 billion.

The new figure is far higher than expected. BP said it had taken an additional charge of $7.7 billion during the third quarter, bringing the company’s own total estimated clean-up and legal costs to $39.9 billion. (more…)

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IBM Acquires PSS Systems

ARMONK, N.Y. – 14 Oct 2010: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has acquired PSS Systems, a privately held company based in Mountain View, Calif.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PSS Systems’ software helps organizations analyze, automate and implement information governance policies across massive amounts of electronic business information and dispose of that information in an automated way.  These capabilities are critical elements to remaining responsive to legal obligations while reducing data storage costs. (more…)

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BP to Pay $4,300 for Every Barrel of Spilled Oil

The scandal around the oil spilt into the Gulf of Mexico does not subside. On Thursday, the information was released that U.S. authorities are preparing a lawsuit against the owner of the exploded BP platform, demanding compensation for damage caused by the leakage. Fines can reach $4,300 for each barrel of oil spilt in the waters of the Gulf, i.e., a total of approximately $17.6 billion.

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Study Shows Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes

In the aftermath of the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a dispersed oil plume  was formed at a depth between 3,600 and 4,000 feet and extending some 10 miles out from the wellhead. An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity, spearheaded by a new and unclassified species, degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion.

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Between the Nightmare of the Gulf and the Magic of Solar Impulse

While the BP Deepwater Horizon well spits tens of thousands of barrels of oil offshore on the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental disaster of proportions never before imagined, a beautiful new kind of bird flies silently in the skies on its first test flight. 

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