Its seems obvious the well hit a strata containing oil and then blew out.
The pipe is apparently spewing out oil. I hope they can get the submersibles down there and shut off the BOP.
I cannot recall another instance of a BOP failure in the Gulf of Mexico. I am sure there will be a thorough investigation into this mishap.
Leak at offshore oil rig producing a serious spill
By Brett Clanton - Houston ChronicleThe spill, which a day earlier Coast Guard officials had thought was contained within a 16-square-mile area on the surface, now covers some 400 square miles, and may grow as the well spews some 42,000 more gallons of oil per day at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, Rear Admiral Mary Landry, commander of Coast Guard District 8, said Saturday.
"This is a very serious spill," she said at a press conference updating the situation.
Word of the expanding spill came as the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was found capsized and lying on the sea floor about 1,500 feet northwest of the well, located roughly 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the Coast Guard said.
The rest of the story:
