Why is the Brazil oil spill still described as “mysterious”?

Guest “why?” by David Middleton

Mysterious oil spill threatens marine biodiversity haven in Brazil

By Herton Escobar Nov. 4, 2019 , 4:50 PM

Marine scientists in Brazil are closely monitoring the incursion of a mysterious oil spill into the largest biodiversity hot spot in the South Atlantic Ocean. The region, known as the Abrolhos Bank, shelters almost 9000 square kilometers of reefs in shallow, warm waters along the central part of the Brazilian coastline.

More than 4000 tons of crude oil residue from an unknown source have landed on the country’s northeast seaboard since late August, contaminating hundreds of beaches, estuaries, reefs, and mangroves along a 2500-kilometer stretch of shoreline.

[…]

Chemical analysis indicated early on that the oil was from Venezuela, but the source of the spill was a complete mystery for the first 2 months. President Jair Bolsonaro’s government was heavily criticized for not responding quickly or strongly enough to the wave of contamination. Although it eventually deployed ships and troops to help with the cleanup, the administration also tried to blame nongovernmental organizations and left-wing conspirators for the crisis, as it did for massive fires and a rising deforestation rate in the Amazon. Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles even tweeted a picture of a Greenpeace ship on 24 October, suggesting—without any proof—that it was responsible for the spill.

[…]

On Friday, the Brazilian Federal Police finally released the name of a real suspect: the Bouboulina, a Greek tanker that passed the Brazilian northeast coast in late July, carrying 1 million barrels worth of crude oil from Venezuela to Malaysia. According to the investigation, satellite images show a big oil stain appearing offshore on 29 July, about 730 kilometers off the coast of Paraíba state, just as the Bouboulina passed by. The company responsible for the ship denies responsibility and says the Bouboulina delivered all of its cargo to Malaysia.

But the suspicion fits well with computer simulations run by UFRJ’s engineering institute (Coppe), which indicate that the oil came from an offshore source about 700 kilometers away and was spilled about 1 month before it hit land. “The distribution pattern of the oil along the coast and the possible source indicated by the police are both consistent with our model,” Coppe oceanographer Luiz Assad told Science.

Federal investigators estimated that the Bouboulina spilled—either accidentally or intentionally—about 2.5 thousand tons of crude oil, but it’s unknown how accurate that estimate is or how much of the spilled oil will reach land.

Science! As in “she blinded me with”

The oil is from Venezuela. There’s nothing mysterious about it. It appears that it was either accidentally or intentionally spilled by a Greek tanker… Although there are certainly other possibilities. But the fact is that the oil is from the failed Marxist nation, Venezuela.

In this petroleum geologist’s opinion, the false perpetuation of the mysterious nature of this oil spill was to direct the blame on Brazil’s offshore oil production and to attack the Trump of Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro, even though the possibility of the spill being of Brazilian origin was ruled out back in September.

Although there is extensive oil exploration activity offshore Brazil, authorities have ruled out that as the source of the spill.

State-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA said it had performed laboratory analysis of the oil and determined, by observing its molecules, that “the organic compounds of the material found are not compatible with that of the oils produced and marketed by the company.”

The next nearest oil exploration areas are Venezuela and the Gulf of Mexico, but there has been no reported issues from those regions.

Reuters, September 27, 2019

Despite this clear proof that the fake-mysterious spill had nothing to do with Brazil’s (or anyone else’s) offshore oil production, the eco-loons still babble nonsense like this:

This is exactly the type of disaster that Oceana and its allies have worked hard to prevent. Just weeks ago, environmental advocates successfully convinced companies that the risk of drilling for oil off the coast of Bahia, a state in northeastern Brazil, was too high. When the government attempted to auction off four oil fields near the Abrolhos Marine National Park, the would-be bidders fell silent. Oil industry analyst Adriano Pires told the Associated Press that companies “didn’t want to get themselves in the middle of an environmental mess.”

EcoWatch, November 5, 2019

The poor results of the recent licensing rounds, had nothing to do with the spill…

UPDATE 4-Big oil stuns Brazil in back-to-back auction flops
PUBLISHED THU, NOV 7 2019

Marianna Parraga, Gram Slattery and Marta Nogueira

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Major global oil firms snubbed a second Brazilian oil auction in a row on Thursday, passing up offshore blocks and forcing officials to reconsider a bidding system that gives a privileged position to state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

The only block awarded in Thursday’s bidding went to Petrobras, as the Brazilian state-run firm is known, and Chinese state firm CNODC, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp, which offered the minimum bid. Four other blocks received no bids.

The result, following a lack of foreign interest in an even bigger Wednesday round, was a wake-up call to those who expected this week to crown Brazil as uncontested champion of the Latin American oil industry.

Analysts have agreed in recent days that promising oil prospects in Brazil’s pre-salt area, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a layer of salt beneath the sea floor, are getting pricey even for oil majors with strong interest. The deepwater blocks also require enormous long-term investments compared with alternatives such as shale fields.

“All majors are focused on capital discipline and value versus volume. They will not bid at any cost for pre-salt assets,” said Marcelo de Assis, head of Latin America upstream for consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

[…]

LESSONS LEARNED
Decio Oddone, the head of Brazilian oil regulator ANP, said the special rights of Petrobras discouraged some rivals, adding that he was surprised at the results, as he expected at least three blocks to be awarded in Thursday’s bidding round.

[…]

Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said “it does not seem to make sense” for Brazil to maintain the special Petrobras rights exclusively in the area. He said the government must learn a lesson from the auctions to get better results in the future.

“We understand from what the companies tell us that our areas continue to be very attractive and productive,” the minister said. Other officials backed up the sentiment, pointing to strong foreign demand in prior pre-salt rounds since 2017.

[…]

“Brazil is competing with opportunities everywhere in the world,” said Assis, of Wood Mackenzie. “Brazil’s pre-salt assets are attractive, but up to a price.”

CNBC

Why continue to describe the spill as “mysterious”? Why try to link it to offshore leasing, drilling and production? Why do they keep trying to blame Bolsonaro for it? Yes… Those were rhetorical questions.

MBrAGA!