The rig, known as the Vermillion 380 production platform, sets in about 2500 feet of water, and is located just west of where BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded this past April. That disaster killed 11 men and set off the worst oil spill in US history. The flow of oil into the Gulf was not halted until July 15, and BP is still working to put a permanent plug on the gusher.

There is no word yet on whether or not any oil is spilling from the Mariner Energy rig. A US Coast Guard official told CNN that “there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don’t know if there’s any risk of pollution.”

There are seven Coast Guard helicopters, two Coast Guard airplanes and four Coast Guard cutters on the way to the rig, according to CNN.

The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion is growing at an alarming rate. The slick in the Gulf of Mexico now covers 1,800 square miles, and could reach the U.S. Gulf Coast by Saturday. Sensitive ecosystems at risk include The Delta National Wildlife Refuge, and parts of eastern Louisiana that are major harvesting areas for oysters and shrimp. According to a statement from BP, more than 1,000 people are taking part in the oil-spill response. However, it could be two weeks or more before the spill is contained. For now, the well is leaking as much as 42,000 gallons of oil every day. To follow this ongoing spill, go to oil-rig-spills.com
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The every-growing spill is threatening both the ecology and the economy of the Gulf Coast. According to the Associated Press, at least 3.5 million gallons of crude oil have poured into the Gulf since the April blast. If it continues unabated, the spill will surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster next month.

The leaking well is owned by BP, which leased Deepwater Horizon from TransOcean Ltd. TransOcean subsidiary, Cameron International Corp., also provided the blowout prevention equipment for the rig that appears to have failed. Subcontractors from Halliburton had finished cementing the well head to the sea floor prior to the explosion.

At back-to-back hearings before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, BP, TransOcean and Halliburton officials pointed fingers at each other. According to The Christian Science Monitor, Lamar McKay, chairman of BP America, blamed the failure of TransOcean’s blowout preventer. Steven Newman, president and CEO of TransOcean cited problems with Halliburton’s cementing job. And Tim Probert, chief health, safety, and environmental officer for Halliburton, said his company was simply following BP’s design.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Senators were not pleased with the blame game. One accused the executives of doing a “Texas two-step” to avoid liability. “I hear one message, and the message is ‘Don’t blame me,’ ” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said. “Well, shifting this blame does not get us very far.”

Even as the executives tried to avoid blame for the oil spill, crews in the Gulf were trying desperately to contain the flow from the stricken well. This morning, BP said a “top hat” oil containment device has reached the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico and should be in position over a leaking well head and operational by the end of the week. Over the weekend, BP’s efforts to contain the well with a larger device failed after hydrates – ice-like crystals – formed and clogged the structure and made it buoyant.

According to a CNN report, this new device would keep most of the water out at the beginning of the capping process and would allow engineers to pump in methanol to keep the hydrates from forming. By Thursday, it should be apparent whether the device is working or not.

As we reported yesterday, BP is also planning to try and block the crude flow with a “junk shot,” in which materials including golf balls, knotted rope and shredded tires will be shot at high pressure into the well’s failed subsea blow-out preventer. It will be two weeks before that process is completed.

BP has also started drilling a containment dome to contain the leak permanently, but that process could take as long as three months.

Meanwhile, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is getting closer to the Mississippi Delta. According to CNN, changing weather could push the slick into the Delta region and areas west of the river. So far, most of the slick has been centered in an area east of the environmentally fragile Mississippi Delta. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned that the Delta, as well as Breton Sound, the Chandeleur Islands and the mainland behind them could be impacted by today.

BP, which is responsible for the disaster, has had no luck stopping or slowing two underwater leaks. The stricken well continues to gush more than 200,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day.

Over the weekend, BP had to abandon efforts to use a containment dome to cap the spill after ice-like crystals formed and clogged the structure. That has raised fears that the well could continue gushing for the next three months until a relief well can be completed to contain the flow.

BP is now preparing a smaller containment dome for the site that it plans to deploy this week.. It is hoped that the smaller size will prevent the formation of the ice that clogged the first structure. If it does work, however, it will not capture as much oil as the larger dome would have.

According to a Reuters report, BP is also planning to try and block the crude flow with a “junk shot,” in which materials including golf balls, knotted rope and shredded tires will be shot at high pressure into the well’s failed subsea blow-out preventer. It will be two weeks before that process is completed.

None of the techniques BP is trying have ever been used in such deep water – 5,000 feet. So it remains to be seen if any of them will be successful.

According to the Associated Press, at least 3.5 million gallons of crude oil have poured into the Gulf since the April blast. If it continues unabated, the spill will surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster next month.

According to the Journal, U.S regulators did consider requiring the acoustic switch on offshore wells, but drilling companies resisted because of its cost, and questions about its effectiveness. To be fair, the switches have never been tested in real-world situations, only simulations. U.S. regulators also maintain they are prone to causing unnecessary shutdowns.

Still, while U.S. regulators and some oil producers have doubts about the acoustic switch, a spokesperson for Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority told the Journal the switches have a good track record in the North Sea. In addition to mandates in Norway and Brazil, some oil producers, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC and France’s Total SA, sometimes use the device even when it’s not required, the Journal said.

Industry critics cite the lack of the device as a sign U.S. drilling policy has been too lax, and say it shows the oil industry has too much say in what regulations are adopted here.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Minerals Management Service told the Journal that the agency ultimately decided against requiring acoustic switches because it determined most rigs already had back-up systems of some kind.

BP, which leases the Deepwater Horizon rig from TransOcean Ltd, has had no success using such back-up systems to stem the oil leaking from that well. As a result, the well is now spilling as much as 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill is moving closer to shore, and could hit the coast tomorrow. An environmental disaster of epic proportions may be in the offing.

In deep water drilling operations like Deepwater Horizon, most of the well control system is installed at the sea floor. As such, all equipment must be installed remotely using electro-hydraulic controls and Remote Operating Vehicles (ROV) with video cameras. Earlier in the disaster, BP was using ROV in an attempt to reach and close the BOP valves at Deepwater Horizon. That fact has led to speculation that the well control systems on Deepwater Horizon failed for some reason.

Oil and gas located at the depth where Deepwater Horizon was drilling at the time of the explosion can be as hot as 450 degrees and at pressures 2,000 times atmospheric. The fire that occurred after the explosion was fueled by oil and gas. This is evidence that there was some abnormal pressure buildup in the well, the Monitor said.

According to a BusinessWeek report, in an operation like the one involving Deepwater Horizon, drilling mud is used to lubricate drill bits as they make their way through rock. This mud is constantly circulated through the wellbore, pumped up to the surface where rock “cuttings” are removed, then injected back down.

Importantly, this mud also acts as a kind of plug in the hole, preventing any oil and gas from blasting up out of it. For whatever reason, it appears that in the case of Deepwater Horizon, the drilling mud could no longer control pressure in the well, allowing fluid to flow into the wellbore and up the annulus and/or inside the drill pipe – an event called a kick.

If the mud is unable to contain the flow of oil, crews must close the BOP valves. If the BOP valves fail, a kick can quickly escalate into a blowout when the formation fluids reach the surface. The gas and other hydrocarbons escaping from the well would have ignited, leading to the devastating explosion and fire on Deepwater Horizon.

Our oil rig explosion lawyers are offering free case evaluations to individuals and businesses who suffered property damage, business interruption or any type of economic loss / hardship caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 allows individuals and entities impacted by oil spills to collect compensation for property loss, loss of income and other damages caused by such incidents. Parties deemed responsible for an oil spill are liable for such losses.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion now ranks among the worst offshore drilling disasters in recent U.S. history. After burning for more than 36 hours, the offshore rig sunk into the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of its collapse, 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour was spilling into the sea. By the following day, an oil spill measuring 100 square miles was drifting northeast toward shore.

At the same time, hope was fading that 11 men missing since the explosion would be found alive. If the missing men are not found alive, the Deepwater Horizon disaster would go down as the deadliest U.S. offshore rig explosion since 1968.

Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters, causing both short-term and long-term pollutant side effects. Consequences of oil spills include dead and dying wildlife, tarred beaches, damaged fisheries and contaminated water supplies. If oil waste reaches the shoreline or coast, it interacts with sediments such as beach sand and gravel, rocks and boulders, vegetation, and terrestrial habitats of both wildlife and humans, causing erosion as well as contamination.

Oil spills present the potential for enormous harm to deep ocean and coastal fishing and fisheries. The immediate effects of toxic and smothering oil waste may be mass mortality and contamination of fish and other food species, but long-term ecological effects may be worse. Oil waste poisons the sensitive marine and coastal organic substrate, interrupting the food chain on which fish and sea creatures depend, and on which their reproductive success is based. Commercial fishing enterprises may be affected permanently.

The regulation requires each owner or operator of a regulated facility to prepare an SPCC Plan. The Plan is required to address the facility’s design, operation, and maintenance procedures established to prevent spills from occurring, as well as countermeasures to control, contain, clean up, and mitigate the effects of an oil spill that could affect navigable waters.

The regulations were revised on two occasions, in 1991 and 1994. The revisions incorporated new requirements added by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that direct facility owners or operators to prepare, and in some cases submit to the federal government, plans for responding to a worst-case discharge of oil.

Under federal law, all of the owners or other parties responsible for a vessel or a facility which causes an oil spill are liable for the removal costs and damages caused by the spill. Federal law also provides for liability of third parties if it is shown that the act or omission on the part of the third party caused an oil spill.

Under federal law, individuals can make the following oil spill damage claims:

Property Damage: Injury to or economic loss resulting from destruction of real property (land or buildings) or other personal property. Property damage claims can be made by people or entities that own or lease the damaged property. The costs of removing oil from your own property can also be included in property damage claims. Boat damage is included as a subset of property damage.

Loss of Profit and Earnings Capacity: Damages equal to the loss of profits or impairment of earning capacity due to the injury, destruction, or loss of property or natural resources. Anyone with loss of profits or income may make such a claim. You do not have to own the damaged property or resources to submit a claim under this category.

Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources: These claims may be filed by individuals if natural resources you depend on for subsistence use purposes have been injured, destroyed, or lost by an oil spill incident. Again, you do not have to own or manage the natural resource to submit a claim under this category.