After
numerous reports of oil slicks in the area of the blow-out well that caused the biggest accidental spill in history, a noted engineering expert Dr. Robert Bea said in an interview that because of the unstable geology in the area of the Macondo well it may leak for years. Scripps Institute mapped seeps in the area prior to the blowout. Some of the natural seeps penetrate to 10,000 and 15,000 feet below the surface. The Macondo drilling operation started in separate, nearby location before the well was finished, but that bore had to be abandoned because the bottom of the well split open. Despite the enormity of the disaster, and evidence that
unreasonable risks were taken during operations
{Deepwater Horizon}, no executive of the oil company or its contractors have been prosecuted. BP's drilling in the fractured salt formation
may have disturbed natural seeps in the Earth causing more oil to reach the surface. There is also speculation the nearby
Rigel gas deposit may be migrating into the Macondo drill bore since it was never completely closed off.
[graphic] What appears to be the case from uncorroborated reports is that there are at least two leaks, one 400 feet west of the present well's surface location and another 3 miles to the west of the well.
