Most of the oil is still

Nearly 80% of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico has not yet disappeared as reported by US officials, the scientists said.

A pelican flies through the grass near theEast Grand Terreisland, which is impacted
of the oil spill disaster on the Gulf of Mexico, on August 10. Photo: AP

Oil and gas group BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, killing dozens of workers. The oil well below the rig leaks causing tens of thousands of liters of oil to escape every day. This is the most serious oil spill disaster in American history.

On August 4, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a report on oil spills on the Gulf of Mexico. The report said that 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the bay from April 20 to August 3, but at least 50% of them were evaporated, burnt, decomposed by bacteria or salvaged. The remaining oil is also decomposed very quickly.

Water on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in recent days has become cleaner than at the beginning of the month.

After NOAA's report was published, a team of University of Georgia, US experts conducted government data analysis and made a different conclusion.

'We reanalyzed the data and found that about 70 to 79% of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico is still there. One of the false judgments of the report is that the oil becomes harmless after dissolving in water. In fact, the oil did not go anywhere but hid under deep water. Oil will only decompose after many years, ' AFP quoted Charles Hopkinson, a member of the research team.

AP said, scientists from the University of Florida, USA also conducted a 10-day survey on the Gulf of Mexico. They also confirmed that most of the oil is settling down to the bottom of the bay so the water looks cleaner than before. In the aquifer from the surface to a depth of 30 m, the oil threatens the life of turtles, fish, birds and many other marine animals. But in deeper water layers, the effects of oil become less noticeable. It can kill plankton - food that feed all marine animals. That situation makes marine animals lack food. In addition, oil also reduces the concentration of oxygen in the water, making it difficult to breathe.