Heavy oil from spill reaches Louisiana marshes

Heavy oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill threatened Louisiana marshlands on Thursday after washing ashore for the first time since a BP-operated rig exploded a month ago, sparking ecological disaster. Calling it a "day that we have all been fearing," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on Wednesday that heavy oil -- not simply tar balls or sheen -- had entered the state's prized wetlands. "It's already here but we know more is coming," he said.The marshes are the nurseries for shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish that make Louisiana the leading producer of commercial seafood in the continental United States. A large no-fishing zone in Gulf waters seen as affected by the spill has been imposed.

Energy giant BP Plc scrambled to contain crude from the gushing undersea well, which ruptured after an April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers. The company said it is now siphoning about 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons/477,000 liters) a day of oil, from what it has estimated was a 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) a day gusher. The company said it could begin injecting mud into the well as early as Sunday in a bid to permanently plug the leak. BP shares rose nearly 3 percent on Thursday in early London trading.

Adding another name to the group of companies connected to the doomed rig, Schlumberger Ltd said it had a crew on the Deepwater Horizon that departed only hours before the explosion and fire that engulfed it. The world's largest oilfield services company had not previously revealed its work on the Horizon.

Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100520

160-Square-Mile Oil Spill Fouls Mississippi Delta Wildlife Refuge

* Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Lloyd

From http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/crude_oil_spill_fouls_about_a.html

A crude oil spill covered about one-fifth of a remote national wildlife refuge near the mouth of the Mississippi River on Wednesday, and another 120 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said.

No affected birds or animals had been reported, and more than 50 people and 16 vessels were working Wednesday to clean up the spill from a pipeline through the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Lt. Stephen Nutting said.

Nutting said the slick covered 16 square miles of the refuge, which comprises about 76 square miles of marshland between the Mississippi River and Breton Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. A 12-mile-wide slick stretched 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, he said.

Crews put 5,000 feet of containment boom around the slick and were putting out another 2,000 feet of boom around the environmentally sensitive area near Breton Island, Nutting said. He said skimmer boats had sucked up 600 gallons of oil.

A Berry Brothers General Contractors barge dredging for ExxonMobil U.S. Production Co. in the area notified the Coast Guard Tuesday about 1 a.m. that oil was spilling into a canal about 10 miles southeast of Venice, according to a news release.
About 18,000 gallons of oil spilled before Cypress could close the broken section.

The news release was distributed jointly by the Coast Guard, the state of Louisiana and the pipeline operator, Cypress Pipe Line Co. -- a joint venture between BP PLC and Chevron Pipe Line Co.

Nutting would not comment on the cause.

ExxonMobil has offered to help deal with the spill, company spokesman David Eglinton said in an e-mail.