Seepage Update: The Good News and the Bad from the Gulf Oil Spill Containment Cap Operation

(July 19) -- Oil is seeping into the Gulf of Mexico, that much is certain.

As White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters today, there are three places that the government is monitoring for oil seepage. The first is on the top of the Deepwater Horizon well, the second is on the newly installed Top Hat 10 cap and the third is on the seafloor, a little less than two miles away.

But not all seeps, it seems, are created equal, and those that have been detected deep below the gulf could each affect the oil spill containment efforts in different ways.

The Good News

While more spewing oil is the last thing the Gulf of Mexico needs at this point, BP executives contend that the seepage on the ocean bottom is not related to the Deepwater Horizon well, nor the implementation of the Top Hat 10 cap.

"Scientists have concluded that the seep was naturally occurring," BP spokesman Mark Proegler told Reuters News Service.

The seeping oil has been captured on video, and appears as a wave of bubbles.

The Bad News

Though small now, the leaks on top of the well and on the new Top Hat 10 cap could very well mean that the Coast Guard will order BP to once again remove the containment cap so as to avoid a much worse situation should mounting pressure create new fissures in the well. That would mean at least a temporary return to the open spigot of free-flowing oil.

Tests are ongoing to determine the seriousness of the well cap seepage. But so far, National Incident Commander Thad Allen has said that he does not think the leaks are "consequential," MSNBC reported.

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