Shell Oil Spill - Moving Toward Nigerian Coast

Yesterday's MODIS satellite images were a bust, but today's were slightly less cloudy/hazy.  Both the Terra and Aqua images show a pale patch of ocean water about 18 kilometers offshore, covering a total area of about 678 square kilometers.  But this is a tough call - the image quality really isn't very good.  The closest sizable populated area near this part of the coast, according to Google Earth, is the town of Burutu located at top center on this graphic:

MODIS/Terra satellite image taken December 23, 2011 at 10:10am local time. Possible location of oil slick noted. Image data courtesy NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team.

This fuzzy patch that may or may not be the remnants of the oil slick is located about where we would expect to see it, given the wind speed and direction over the past couple of days (blowing from the south-southwest at 5-10 knots). Radar imagery would give us a better look but we haven't seen any new radar images since December 21.

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Shell reports Up to 1.7 MIllion Gallon Oil Spill in off Nigerian Coast

Envisat ASAR satellite radar image showing large slick (outlined in yellow) from major oil spill off Niger Delta.  Image courtesy European Space Agency.

Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian drilling operations in the highly productive Bonga Field were officially brought to a halt yesterday after "less than 40,000 barrels of oil" (1.7 million gallons) were reportedly leaked during a transfer of crude to a tanker. We've just processed a radar satellite image taken this morning (December 21, 2011) of the field, with the spill clearly visible.  Here it is showing the slick outlined in yellow; it is about 70 km (45 miles) long, 17 km (10 miles) wide at it's widest, and covers 923 square kilometers (356 square miles) of ocean: 

Another, much smaller oil slick appears at lower right; this looks like a bilge dump from a passing vessel, not related to the Shell spill.

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[[Location:4.554,4.618]]

Envisat ASAR radar image taken December 6, 2011. Image courtesy European Space Agency - click for larger version.

The radar satellite image above, taken on December 6, 2011, shows a very small slick originating near the location of Transocean's SEDCO 706 drilling rig that was installing Chevron's failed well. The slick is about 7.3 miles long and a few hundred yard wide, comparable to the slicks created by natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.  Wind conditions were good for slick detection at the time, blowing at about 10 knots (5 meters per second).  Several other small slicks are visible near a cluster of oil platforms (bright spots) about 50 miles south of the SEDCO 706.  This is within the southern Campos Basin, and these slicks may be the result of minor spills or leaks from platforms, pipelines, or vessels operating in one of the many offshore fields in the region. [Read more...]
 
[[Location: -21.901,-39.822]]

Taylor / 23051 Chronic Leak Site in Gulf: Oil Analyzed

Back on September 15, a team from National Wildlife Federation piled onto a small boat on the Louisiana coast.  Their destination: the chronic leak site about 12 miles offshore where a cluster of wells operated by Taylor Energy has been steadily spilling oil into the Gulf since 2004.  Check out this aerial video of the site, shot by On Wings of Care on December 9, 2011.

Their objective: to collect samples of the Taylor oil slick for analysis, to see if it's chemically distinguishable from the oil that gushed from BP's infamous Macondo well about 30 miles away.  We wanted to know if other samples of oil collected in this region of the Gulf, on beaches and barrier islands and from slicks observed offshore, could possibly be coming from the Taylor site since it's a well-documented source of oil pollution. 

The upshot:  oil leaking from the Taylor site should not easily be confused with relatively unweathered oil from the Macondo disaster.  But it would be very helpful to collect more and better samples from the slicks being observed in the vicinity of the Macondo well site. [Read more....]

 [[Location: 28.938022, -88.970963]]

EOG Resources Pays for Damages in Pollution of PA Creek

Drilling company EOG Resources has agreed to pay a financial settlement to Pennsylvania's Fish and Boat Commission following accusations that their extraction operations in the Marcellus Shale formation resulted in the pollution of Little Laurel Run in Clearfield County, PA.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time EOG Resources has been forced to shell out for contaminating important trout streams in Pennsylvania, leaving many to again question the intrinsic "safety" of intensifying gas drilling operations in and around our nation's most prized natural areas.  

[[Location:40.9156130,-78.2489031]]

Gulf of Mexico Overflight Yesterday - Old Slicks, New Slicks

Jon Henderson of Gulf Restoration Network did an overflight over the Gulf yesterday, thanks to our Gulf Monitoring Consortium partner SouthWings. They documented two small slicks in Breton Sound, and a larger slicks from the Taylor Energy site where a cluster of hurricane-damaged wells have been leaking since 2004.  Read all about it and check out the excellent pics. 

Jon filed three reports with the National Response Center, as all citizens who witness a suspected oil or hazardous materials spill are encouraged to do.  His reports should appear soon in the SkyTruth Alerts system, which you can subscribe to if you'd like to get automatic notifications any time a spill is reported. But in the meantime you can see Jon's two Breton Sound reports here and here, and the Taylor report here.

Oil slick at Taylor Energy / 23051 chronic leak site in Gulf of Mexico, December 8, 2011. Photo courtesy Jon Henderson / Gulf Restoration Network.

Judging from the pics, it looks like both Breton Sound slicks are being caused by a slow point source of leakage underwater, probably on the seafloor.  The first is similar to what you'd see at a natural oil seep location; the second contains heavier brown material that suggests a larger/faster leak.  Given the maze of pipelines and abandoned wells on the seafloor in the Sound, both might be from leaking infrastructure.  We'll check the NRC to see if any potential responsible party has come forward. 

The slick at the Taylor Energy / 23051 site is similar to what we've been seeing since we first "discovered" this chronic leak in early 2010. A work boat of some kind is on the scene, but the Ocean Saratoga rig that was working to plug the leaking wells is obviously not. Apparently fixing these wells and stopping this leak isn't a high priority. Check out a chronology of information and observations related to this leak. You can monitor this location on the SkyTruth Alerts, or subscribe to get automatic notifications.


[[Location: 28.938022, -88.970963]]

Campos Basin Oil Spill, Brazil - Small Slick November 25

We've just processed an Envisat ASAR radar image of the Campos Basin that was taken on November 25.  As expected, it shows a much smaller apparent oil slick originating from the location of the SEDCO 706 drilling rig, operated for Chevron by Transocean, than we observed back on November 12:

Envisat ASAR satellite radar image taken November 25, 2011. Slicks are dark streaks and patches. Location of SEDCO 706 drill rig is marked. Image courtesy European Space Agency.

Surface wind speed over the leak site was good, about 5-15 knots (3-8 meters/sec), blowing from the north-northeast.  A very narrow slick about 120 meters wide and 50 kilometers long extends south from the rig location, covering about 6 square kilometers.  Assuming the slick is 1 micron thick, we estimate it holds about 1,584 gallons (38 barrels) of oil.

There are other small slicks in the area to the west and southwest of the Chevron leak site.  Some of these may be from natural oil seeps in the basin, other sources of natural surfactant such as phytoplankton, or leaks and spills from vessels and other offshore facilities.


[[Location: -21.901,-39.822]]