Microbes have munched almost all of the methane (natural gas) released in the BP gulf oil spill in less than a year. The microbes have eaten the oil as well! Fear of hydrocarbon spills and the effect of methane on climate are the steady fare of alarmists but doesn’t something like this make you wonder if the sky is really falling after all.
In a study released earlier this month, a team of scientists stated that the natural gas released by the oil spill had almost completely disappeared. According to the study, tiny deep-water microbes have consumed the natural gas, methane, and other oil constituents released by the oil spill. The study estimated that 0.01% (one ten-thousandth) of the methane released from the accident actually remained in the ocean. It appears that the explosion and seepage of oil provided a feast for the microbes in the Gulf.Not only did these bacteria enjoy the feast, but they consumed the methane gas rather quickly. By September, according to the study, only five months after the initial oil rig explosion, the methane was practically gone.