To date, BP has spent more than $26 billion on response, cleanup and claims, including more than $14 billion, and 70 million personnel hours, on response and cleanup; and more than $12 billion in claim payments to individuals, businesses and government entities. The company has worked hard to re-establish its image as a safe, responsible producer of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: BP
by BP staff
An effort to make environmental data collected from the Gulf of Mexico publicly available and easily accessible has been launched by BP. The Deepwater Horizon Response and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associations’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) data was collected by federal and state agencies, as well as by BP.
The research was conducted at sea, on land, and in the air since the spill in April of 2010. The unprecedented amount of data on environmental conditions in the Gulf includes more than 2.3 million lines of water chemistry data. It has been published on a company website – http://gulfsciencedata.bp.com.
BP has made significant efforts to promote scientific understanding by providing independent researchers with oil samples from the Macondo well, as well as surrogate oil with similar characteristics. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
According to the company, “making information available online will enable more people to use the data for research and studies”. The new data website builds upon efforts by the company to share scientific information with the public and the research communities.
Progress reports include the NRDA effort, online information and presentations to scientific conferences. BP has made significant efforts to promote scientific understanding by providing independent researchers with oil samples from the Macondo well, as well as surrogate oil with similar characteristics.
“Providing access to this significant body of scientific information will help enhance Gulf-related scientific research and improve the public’s understanding of the condition of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Laura Folse, BP’s Executive Vice President for Response and Environmental Restoration. “Making the data and supporting information available in a usable format is part of BP’s ongoing effort to keep the public informed about potential injuries to, and the recovery of, natural resources in the Gulf.”
The research was conducted at sea, on land, and in the air since the disaster in April of 2010. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
Additional data releases are planned in 2014, including samples now in various stages of analysis, validation, and quality control review by government agencies.
Released datasets will cover categories including; oil, water, sediments, shoreline, environmental toxicology, birds, fish and shellfish (aquatic biology), marine mammals and sea turtles, as well as a miscellaneous category with data not fitting into the other categories. Posted data will be without interpretation.
Initial data released on oil and water findings includes:
- Water chemistry – One of the largest collections of data amassed in the aftermath of the accident, this data includes analytical chemistry results of water samples collected as part of more than 70 Response and NRDA studies. Also included in the data is information on concentrations of the common chemical constituents of crude oil, such as volatile hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), saturated hydrocarbons (SHC), and petroleum biomarkers.
- Oil characteristics – This collection of data includes information on the composition of oil released from the Macondo well, and analyses of Macondo oil in various degrees of degradation, or weathering. The first dataset available in this area relates to oil obtained from the vessel Q4000. Oil was collected using a containment system that conveyed fresh oil from the well into a pipe connected to the vessel. This sample of Macondo oil is the freshest (least weathered) oil sample collected after the accident. Analyses of more weathered oil will be provided in the future.
- Oil analyses for water chemistry lab calibration – Macondo source oil was analyzed as a quality control sample by analytical laboratories along with analyses of environmental samples collected in the field. This quality control sample analysis is generally referred to as “MC252 control oil.”
The company will issue email notifications to interested parties when new data becomes available. State and federal agencies datasets are also available online at various government websites. All datasets made publicly available through the company website will be accompanied by supplemental information providing context on why, where, and how the data were collected.
Supplemental information may vary to include:
- Data Publication Summary Reports that summarize important information concerning the data, including timeframe and location/collection information. These reports will also include descriptions of the studies that contributed to the data.
- Reports that provide comments on data based on BP’s quality assurance and quality control process.
- Sample maps that provide a visual representation of the location where samples were collected.
- Work plans that describe the scientific studies that were developed to examine possible oil exposure pathways and potential associated injuries. More than 200 initial and amended NRDA work plans were developed to cooperatively study resources and habitat.
To date, BP has spent more than $26 billion on response, cleanup and claims, including more than $14 billion, and 70 million personnel hours, on response and cleanup; and more than $12 billion in claim payments to individuals, businesses and government entities.
Within the past year Gulf tourism has seen a strong rebound and Gulf seafood is safe to eat according to government reports.
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