Shell Spills Almost 90,000 Gallons Of Oil In The Gulf Of Mexico

The Royal Dutch Shell Company has leaked about 2,100 barrels of oil that involved about 88,200 gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico last week. The oil slick expands to about 2 miles by 13 miles (3 kilometers by 21 kilometers), about 97 miles of south of Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The company was forced to shut down its entire well that flow to its Brutus platform. The operation of Shell's Glider Field, which is composed of four subsea wells, started the operation 2001. It is underwater with a depth of 2,900 feet, according to Nature World News.

There is no clear cause of the oil spilling yet the company stated that the slick probably came from an oil release in the subsea infrastructure. On the other hand, the researchers are examining the cause at the moment.

Ian McDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University cited that the scientists might reach the oil slick by Wednesday. He further said that he flew over the spill on Sunday and discovered that oil was about 50 miles of where the leak started. They saw porpoises in the oil and saw balls of bait fish in the oil. He said that from the air, you would have thought that you were in the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The cleanup vessels started to skim oil on Friday and ended Monday evening. Jonathan Lally, the Petty Officer together with the U.S. Coast Guard said that there are no reports of injured wildlife. They said that the skimmers had recuperated about over 84,000 gallons of oily water.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the oil is moving in a westerly direction and it is not expected to reach the land. MacDonald said that oil has about 80 miles to go before it would reach the central Louisiana coast. He further said that it's great that the response crew is out there, but it would be good to know what's happening to wildlife, according to CBS Miami.