Oil still leaking at site of 13-year-old spill in Gulf

BATON ROUGE, La. – Federal officials say they have found fresh evidence of an “ongoing oil release” at the site of a 13-year-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, where chronic sheens often stretch for miles (kilometres) off Louisiana’s coast.

In a court filing Friday, government attorneys said recent surveys revealed two plumes of oil and gas flowing from where an underwater mudslide during a hurricane toppled an offshore platform and buried the cluster of wells owned by Taylor Energy Corp.

The company says there is no evidence that oil is still leaking from its unplugged wells on the seafloor.

But the presence of the plumes could complicate Taylor Energy’s efforts to negotiate a settlement that could allow it to recover millions of dollars it set aside for work to end the leak.