VENICE, La. – Heavy oil has been spotted 7 miles off the coast of Southwest Pass, according to Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.
After days of oil gushing from the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico following the massive explosive of an oil rig British Petroleum announced early Wednesday morning that it has capped one of three leaks.
“We have been able to cap one of the three leaks,” said Curtis Thomas, BP spokesman, “That is the great news.” The leak was stopped using a robotic device.
“The bad news is that it did not diminish the flow, so we still have about 5,000 barrels that are being released, but it is from two leak sources, not three.”
The good news was tempered also by a report of an oil sheen approaching the Louisiana coast.
Earlier an oil sheen was been spotted about two miles offshore by an oysterman, according to Nungesser. It was spotted near the St. Bernard-Plaquemines border.
Late Tuesday night, Thomas said, they were able to place a valve over an end of a pipe, allowing them to close one of the leaks. They are currently looking at other engineering methods to stop the leaks from the other two sources.
BP officials are readying the huge concrete containment dome. The dome will be loaded onto a barge and then lowered over the leak, Thomas said, hopefully giving workers the ability to collect the oil that is spewing from the leaks and pump up to the surface.
The 100-ton dome is expected to be in place by Thursday, according to Thomas, and operational by Saturday.
Despite the good news of capping one of three leaks, officials still estimate 210,000 gallons per day is leaking from the ocean floor. The total amount that has leaked since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank is unknown, though.
BP officials believe that dispersant efforts have also been successful. The dispersants are being deployed, according to Thomas, at the immediate scene and also by plane.
“That’s been working very well. No oil has hit land,” said Thomas. “We know that it is because the boom and dispersants. Mother Nature has given us a break too; it hasn’t pushed the wind toward the shore. ”
Nungesser said that 24 miles of boom is being readied to be deployed in effort to protect the coast of his parish, but boom has not been deployed where the sheen was reported.
