Oil-Munching Bacteria Made Fast Work Of BP Oil Spill, Scientist Says

"Much of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 disappeared within weeks of the capping of BP's Macondo well on July 15, digested by a massive explosion in oil-eating microorganisms, said Terry Hazen, a professor of environmental biology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, during a Monday panel at the national conference of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans."



"Hazen was one of a team of researchers tracking the movement of oil in the Gulf from July 27 to August 26, 2010, from aboard four research ships.

Much of the oil and methane gas released by the well was originally found to be moving in a plume 3,600 feet below the surface to the southwest of the Macondo well site."

Mark Schleifstein reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune April 8, 2013.

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 04/09/2013