The deep sea subs have found other leaks a couple of miles from BP's
gushing blowout preventer and riser.
For example, the Houston
Chronicle noted
on June 21st:
A report from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration on Monday noted research vessels found
natural gas seeping from the sea floor several miles away from the well.
While
many might be quick to take this as confirmation of Matt Simmons' claims
that there is another leak directly caused by the sinking of the
drilling rig, the Chronicle goes on to explain:
Those
appear to be pre-existing seeps that occur naturally, a NOAA
spokeswoman said, and unrelated to the spill.
But
the Washington Post made a very important
point yesterday:
Bruce Bullock, director
of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, said
additional leaks are a possible source of deep-sea plumes of oil
detected by research vessels. But this part of the gulf is pocked with
natural seeps, he noted. Conceivably
the drilling of the well, and/or the subsequent blowout, could have
affected the seeps, he said.
'Once you started disturbing the underground geology, you may have made
one of those seeps even worse,' he said.
Remember
that geologists have said that if the well casing is substantially
breached, the oil and methane gas will find a way through fractures in
the surrounding geology and make it into the ocean. For example, the
Houston Chronicle notes:
If the well
casing burst it could send oil and gas streaming through the strata to
appear elsewhere on the sea floor ....
Obviously,
if there are natural oil or gas seeps nearby, there are already
pre-existing channels up to the seafloor ... so that may very well be
the path of least resistance for the subterranean oil to flow up to the
seafloor.
Therefore, if there were a substantial breach in the
well bore, nearby natural oil and gas seeps could very well increase in
volume.
Because BP would like to minimize
leak estimates to minimize the damages it has to pay under the Clean
Water Act, BP would undoubtedly try to pretend that the nearby
natural seeps always had the same volume. In other words, the owner
of the oil drilling prospect where the spill is occuring - BP - may be
the only party to have mapped out the nearby seeps (Anadarko and Mitsui
were partners
with BP in the oil prospect; but - as passive partners - they probably
didn't take a hands-on approach to such details).
So don't be
surprised if - when formerly tiny seeps become gushers - BP tries to
pretend that they were always that large.
Indeed - given BP's
track record of prevarication - don't be shocked if BP pretends that
brand new gushers are ancient, natural seeps.
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