USCG Investigates Oil Slick off California Coast
The U.S. Coast Guard was investigating a large oil sheen off the California coast west of Santa Barbara on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the agency said. The slick, which was about 60 feet (18 meters) wide, was spotted about 1,000 yards (meters) offshore from Goleta State Beach west of Santa Barbara, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Andrea Anderson. Anderson could not give the approximate length of the sheen. In May, as much as 2,400 barrels of crude oil were spilled onto a pristine beach about 15 miles (24 km) west of Goleta when a pipeline ruptured along the coast. But there were no immediate reports of any link between the two incidents. "We don't have a definite source yet," Anderson said of the oil sheen discovered on Wednesday.
Rosneft Produced 1st Lot of Fischer Tropsch Synthesis Catalysts
Rosneft has proved its leadership in national GTL (gas-to-liquid) technologies development. First pilot batches of Fischer Tropsch synthesis catalysts have been produced at Angarsk catalyst and organic synthesis plant. Today Angarsk plant is the first Russian enterprise capable of producing such catalysts on a commercial scale. The implementation of FT synthesis catalysts production national technologies has been performed as part of Program of the Company’s innovation development by scientists of RN-RDC corporate scientific center, a resident of Skolkovo foundation. The catalysts produced provide natural and oil-dissolved gas to be processed into synthetic hydrocarbons. They were tested in laboratory and have already proved its high performance properties.
Fourth Series of Offshore Vessels Joins Bourbon Fleet
A year after taking delivery of its last Bourbon 200 vessel and first Bourbon Liberty 300 vessel, Bourbon has extended its range of services with the Bourbon Liberty 151, the first vessel in a series of 15 PSVs. The first Bourbon Liberty 150 series vessel will operate for Maersk Oil and Qatar. Bourbon has been investing in a range of next generation built-in-series vessels since 2008. By the end of 2014, the group will be able to provide clients with an unprecedented series of 111 standardized, efficient and innovative Bourbon Liberty vessels devoted to offshore activities.
BOEMRE Environmental Study: Post-Deepwater Horizon Spill
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced that a team of scientists led by BOEMRE geophysicist Bill Shedd will embark tomorrow morning on a research cruise that will examine deep sea coral and chemosynthetic community sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Findings from this research will help scientists discover the possible effects of the large volumes of oil released in the deepwater following the Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill. The cruise, funded by BP through the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), will depart from Freeport, Texas on October 29, 2010, for the ten day cruise. Biologists and geoscientists from BOEMRE…
Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have detected a plume of hydrocarbons at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 ft below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The 1.2-mile-wide, 650-ft-high plume of trapped hydrocarbons was detected during a ten day subsurface sampling effort from June 19-28, 2010 near the wellhead. The results provide a snapshot of where the oil has gone as surface slicks shrink and disappear.
