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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Oil Sheen Came From Deepwater Horizon

NEW ORLEANS (CN) - Oil samples from sheen found near the Deepwater Horizon site confirm the oil is from the ill-fated Macondo well, a federal official said Wednesday night.

Read Courthouse News' Environmental Law Review.

Coast Guard Capt. Duke Walker issued a Notice of Federal Interest to BP and Transocean, that the samples match oil from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

Walker is the federal government's on-scene coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

BP reported the sheen on Sept. 16, based on satellite images.

The sheen cannot be recovered and poses no risk to the shoreline, according to the press release from RestoreTheGulg.gov, a federal website.

Ten days after BP reported the sheen, a sample was taken. It was sent to the Coast Guard Marine Safety Lab in New London, Conn., which said the oil came from BP's Macondo well.

"The exact source of the sheen is uncertain at this time but could be residual oil associated with wreckage and/or debris left on the seabed from the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010," the government release states.

The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on April 20, 2010 off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 people and unleashing the worst oil spill in history.

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