Skip to content
Oil Change International | Data Driven, People Powered. Oil Change International | Data Driven, People Powered.
  • About
    • Our Work
    • Values
    • Team
    • Jobs at OCI
    • Ways to Give
  • Program Areas
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • North Sea
    • United States
    • Global Industry
    • Global Public Finance
    • Global Policy
  • Blog
  • Press Releases
  • Publications
Donate
  • Get Updates
    • Share on Bluesky Share on Bluesky Bluesky (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter Twitter (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Instagram Share on Instagram Instagram (opens in a new window)
    • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn LinkedIn (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Facebook (opens in a new window)
Donate
  • About
    • Our Work
    • Values
    • Team
    • Jobs at OCI
    • Ways to Give
  • Program Areas
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • North Sea
    • United States
    • Global Industry
    • Global Public Finance
    • Global Policy
  • Blog
  • Press Releases
  • Publications
    • Get Updates
    • Share on Bluesky Bluesky
    • Share on Twitter Twitter
    • Share on Instagram Instagram
    • Share on LinkedIn LinkedIn
    • Share on Facebook Facebook
Go to OCI Homepage
Current Affairs
Published: August 17, 2010

Upto 80% of BP oil still in the Gulf, say scientists

  • Latest from OCI
  • Blogs listing
  • Upto 80% of BP oil still in the Gulf, say scientists
    • Blog Post BP Current Affairs Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spills Pollution
Andy Rowell

When not blogging for OCI, Andy is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in environmental issues.

[email protected]

oil-still-thereWhen the US government announced three-quarters of the oil from BP’s leak “has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated” and what was left posed no risk, I said that the findings would be controversial.

What I didn’t say is that they would be blatantly challenged by scientists as wildly wrong.

Scientists from the University of Georgia have been at the forefront of monitoring the spills impact, especially the deep underwater plumes.

In a study released yesterday they argue that up to 80% of the oil spilled is still present and remains a threat to the Gulf ecosystem and fisheries.

The report is authored by five prominent marine scientists. “One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and, therefore, harmless,” said one of the scientists, Charles Hopkinson, director of Georgia Sea Grant and professor of marine sciences in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Hopkinson added: “The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are.”

Hopkinson argues that most of the oil classified by the government as dispersed, dissolved or residual was actually still in the waters of the Gulf. Using a range of likely evaporation and degradation estimates, the group calculated that 70% to 79% of oil spilled into the Gulf still remains.

In what seems a rudimentary mistake for the US Government to have made, the independent scientists said it was impossible for all the dissolved oil to have evaporated because only oil at the surface of the ocean can evaporate into the atmosphere and large plumes of oil are still trapped in the deep water.

Other scientists agree that rather than the perception that the US government has tried to portray – that the spill is over – this is just the beginning.

Chemist Dana Wetzel said that Government’s conclusion felt like the “closing credits of a movie.”

“It’s like they were saying ‘the end,’” Wetzel, program manager at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, said in an interview with Business Week last week. “I’d say we have just gotten through setting up the plot.”

No prizes for who will be the villains of the show…

Oil Change International | Data Driven, People Powered.
Donate Get Updates
Back to the top
  • Keep in touch

  • Oil Change International
    714 G St. SE, #202
    Washington, DC 20003
    United States

    +1.202.518.9029

    [email protected]

    • Share on Bluesky Bluesky (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Twitter Twitter (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Instagram Instagram (opens in a new window)
    • Share on LinkedIn LinkedIn (opens in a new window)
    • Share on Facebook Facebook (opens in a new window)
  • Quick links

  • About OCI
  • Our Values
  • Jobs at OCI
  • Ways to Give
  • Media Centre

  • Publications
  • Press
  • Associated websites

  • Big Oil Reality Check
  • Energy Finance Database
  • Permian Climate Bomb
  • Site map
  • Privacy policy

Copyright © 2025 Oil Change International. Web design by Fat Beehive