Platform 23051 / Ocean Saratoga Oil Slick Revisited

<div style=”text-align: center;”><a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_edvxM1dkFlo/TC44MGd4dAI/AAAAAAAAAjY/lwYecIidUL0/s1600/JHFair-5jun10-platform23051-leak-3834-514.jpg”><img style=”display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 208px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_edvxM1dkFlo/TC44MGd4dAI/AAAAAAAAAjY/lwYecIidUL0/s400/JHFair-5jun10-platform23051-leak-3834-514.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489386776356746242″ border=”0″ /></a><span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;” ><span style=”font-family: arial;”>June 5, 2010: </span></span><span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;” ><span style=”font-family: arial;”>Oil slick </span></span><span style=”font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;” ><span style=”font-family: arial;”>next to </span><span style=”font-style: italic; font-family: arial;”>Ocean Saratoga</span><span style=”font-family: arial;”> semisubmersible drill rig. Rig is working to plug wells damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Photo courtesy J. Henry Fair.</span></span><br /></div><br /><div style=”text-align: center;”><a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_edvxM1dkFlo/TC43QqQiMTI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/hVKyFZQsv0U/s1600/jhFair_25jun10_1125CDT-platform23051-location_3840-347.jpg”><img style=”display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_edvxM1dkFlo/TC43QqQiMTI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/hVKyFZQsv0U/s400/jhFair_25jun10_1125CDT-platform23051-location_3840-347.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489385755172286770″ border=”0″ /></a><span style=”font-family:arial;font-size:85%;”><span style=”font-weight: bold;”>June 25, 2010: Oil slick marked by orange buoy. Rig is no longer in the area. Photo courtesy J. Henry Fair. </span></span><br /></div><br />A few weeks ago we noticed a <a href=”http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/06/gulf-of-mexico-time-to-get-serious.html”>small but persistent slick</a> appearing near a known oil platform location, designated Platform 23051 in a government database of all Gulf oil and gas platforms. J. Henry Fair, a professional photographer, was flying over the site a few days later and captured <a href=”http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/06/routine-gulf-monitoring-heres-why-we.html”>photos and video showing an oil slick</a> next to a semisubmersible drilling rig called the <span style=”font-style: italic;”>Ocean Saratoga</span>. We learned the rig was <a href=”http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/06/leaking-well-at-platform-23051-location_21.html”>working to plug one of 26 oil wells</a> that had been damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and apparently leaking ever since. The platform must have been destroyed during Ivan, or so badly damaged that it had to be removed. The Coast Guard reported the wells were leaking, on average, just <a href=”http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-09/taylor-gulf-wells-leaking-6-years-after-hurricane-update1-.html”>14 gallons per day</a>; and a containment device was capturing most of that oil.<br /><br />Nobody attempted to offer an explanation for the long oil slick photographed on June 5, or our observation of a slick in that area on <a href=”http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/06/leaking-well-at-platform-23051-location.html”>over a dozen satellite images</a> aquired since April 25, 2010. We calculate a leakage rate in the range of <a href=”http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/06/leaking-well-at-platform-23051-location_21.html”>100-400 gallons per day</a>.<br /><br />Mr. Fair flew over the site again on June 25, and took photographs showing an oil slick marked by an orange buoy at one end, but no sign of the <span style=”font-style: italic;”>Ocean Saratoga</span> rig or any other activity. It’s possible the rig was towed back to shore to ride out tropical storm Alex, or has been moved to another job.<div class=”blogger-post-footer”><img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6764701519765556054-7176192999235524230?l=blog.skytruth.org’ alt=” /></div><img src=”http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Skytruth/~4/eW31T9WgrUA” height=”1″ width=”1″/>

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