Rainbow-tinted slicks and globules of oil have been cropping up
in the Gulf of Mexico during the past 10 days or so, and it’s
not clear where it is all coming from. BP, whose Macondo well
spewed 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf last summer
after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, has denied that the oil is
coming from that well. But some scientists say it’s certainly
possible. Reports of a new oil sheen first surfaced on Aug. 18,
close to the site of last year’s devastating spill. BP and Coast
Guard officials deployed two submersible vehicles to the site,
but BP said a visual inspection indicated there was no oil
released from the Macondo well. The Coast Guard said last week
that the oil was the result of natural seeps and/or permitted
releases at other oil drilling sites, according to the Press-
Register newspaper in Mobile, Ala.Reporters from the Press-
Register took some samples of their own and sent them to
Louisiana State University, where scientists confirmed the oil
was Louisiana sweet crude. It was