US Coast Guard Denies Oil Leak From Sunken Rig

No oil appeared to be leaking from a drilling rig that exploded and sank offshore Louisiarian in the Gulf of Mexico, the United States Coast Guard said Friday, though officials were trying to contain what spilled after the blast and prevent any threat to the coast’s fragile ecosystem.

The search continued for 11 workers missing after the explosion late Tuesday on the Transocean Limited’s Deepwater Horizon, though family members said they had been told they probably did not survive.

The rig burned for nearly two days until it sank Thursday morning. The fire was out, but officials initially feared as much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could be rising from the sea floor nearly 5,000 feet below.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said Friday that no oil appeared to be leaking from a well head at the ocean floor, nor was there any leaking at the water’s surface. But she said crews were closely monitoring the rig for any more crude that might spill out.

The crew was finishing the well about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast when the rig exploded. Officials have not said what caused the blast, and the oil they are dealing with now is left over from the explosion and sinking.

BP PLC, which leased the rig and took the lead in the cleanup, said Friday it has activated an extensive oil spill response, including using remotely operated vehicles to assess the well and 32 vessels to mop up the spill.

BP Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, said the company will do “everything in our power to contain this oil spill and resolve the situation as rapidly, safely and effectively as possible.”

Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor, said he expects some of the light crude oil to evaporate while much of it turns into a pasty mess that ultimately breaks apart into small chunks of oily residue that can wash ashore.

Weather forecasts indicate the spill was likely to stay well away from shore at least through the weekend, but if winds change it could come ashore faster, said Doug Helton of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The Coast Guard, which was leading the investigation, was yet to give up the search early Friday for those missing from the rig.

Most of the crew — 111 members — were ashore, including 17 taken to hospitals. Four were in critical condition.

Four others, who made it off safely were still on a boat operating one of several underwater robots being used to assess whether the flow of oil could be shut off at a control valve on the sea floor, said Guy Cantwell, spokesman for rig owner Trans-ocean Limited.

Nelson Chukwudi, with agency reports