BP Oil Spill Live Feed

Oil Spill Containment is a delicate process that is both time and resource intensive. Oil spills are devastating events that without quick and effective containment have profound and long term effects and repercussions on the local environment, to say nothing of upsetting trade and lifestyles in the surrounding region.

There are many methods used for oil spill containment. In brief, they are:

Controlled burning - the most dramatic and low tech method of controlling an oil spill, similar to how fire services burn certain forest areas to prevent out of control fires from cropping up later. This is a difficult process - if not monitored carefully, the fires can burn out of control.

Bioremediation - chemical and biological agents that are dispersed into the spill and nearby areas, that essentially "eat" the oil and break it down into component molecules of water and carbon dioxide (CO2). These hydrophobic chemicals create a surface emulsion bacteria that can degrade up to 98% of oils within a month.

Dispersants - Instead of dissolving or burning off the oil, this process uses detergents that dilute and disperse the oil molecules so they are less harmful to life and ecosystem.

July 8th, 2010 - Estimates of oil speak leak volume are further revised upward to 60,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. Concern over methane introduced to the local environment have scientists worried about its effect on marine life.

June 1st, 2010 - Scientists claim they have discovered multiple underwater oil plumes, which BP denies.

May 27th, 2010 - Top Kill is attempted, and looks to be working at first, until a few days letter when BP admits it has not been a success.

May 24th, 2010 - The controversial "Top Kill" procedure is again put on hold by BP.

May 16th, 2010 - The intubation procedure begun on the 14th is successful, but does not stem the flowing oil in any meaningful amount.

May 14th, 2010 - BP tries again to stop one of the remaining 2 oil leaks to siphon off the oil.

May 12th, 2010 - Images of the leak are published by BP, and executives from BP and other oil companies appear before Congress.

May 8th, 2010 - The containment dome plan is a failure, and the dome itself is removed.

May 5th, 2010 - BP is successful in stopping one of the three leaks, and is preparing to lower a 100-ton containment dome onto another leak and siphon the oil out.

May 3rd, 2010 - BP attempts to install a shutoff valve onto one of the three underwater leaks. Observations show the slick is approaching Alabama and Florida.

May 1st, 2010 - The prior estimate of 5000 barrels a day is revised upwards to 25,000 barrels a day.

April 29th, 2010 - The prior estimate of 1000 barrels a day is revised upwards to 5000 barrels a day.

April 28, 2010 - For the first time it is revealed that stopping the leak could take months.

April 26, 2010 - Search and rescue (SAR) stops without finding the missing 11 crewmen. Estimates of 1000 barrels of oil leaking into the sea each day. Note this is still classified a leak rather than a spill.

April 22, 2010 - The rig is still ablaze - once it was put out, it sank into the sea. At this point since Deepwater Horizon was an exploration rather than production rig, generally this was seen as less of a disaster.

April 20, 2010 - 11pm EST, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform is reported. 11 people missing. The rig was in operation, but not in production - they were drilling, but not bringing up oil. The rig is located ~50 miles south of the Louisiana coast.

Now that the "Top Kill" process has failed, BP has announced that the Oil Spill they caused may run well into August, dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf Coast - the biggest ecological disaster in US history.

More updates as they come, this story will unfortunately be with us for a long time.

The BP Oil spill has strangely been with us for over 5 weeks now, yet it still tops the news, which is rare in and of itself. BP has tried 3 different methods for stopping the spill in progress, and none have succeeded. As of last check, more than 80,000 gallons of oil are spewing into the Gulf Coast EACH day.

President Barack Obama has postponed a trip to the Far East for a second time in order to once again travel to the Gulf Coast and oversee the process of trying to fix things. Many have criticized the President for not being more proactive in the process, while supporters on the other side have countered asking what another person overseeing the process could do, given that it's a private matter that BP has tried thus far to handle internally. President Obama will be investigating the cleanup efforts on land.

British Petroleum's oil spill "containment cap" is showing promise, they report. Unfortunately so much oil volume has been released thus far, and more continues despite the containment cap's success. It looks like this will not guarantee success, though BP insists it is a worthy first in a long line of recovery steps.