The first large-scale gas detection to be carried out in the Gulf of Mexico since the failure of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig has found significant levels of gaseous hydrocarbons in the ocean.
While the findings have just been published by the University of Georgia, they relate to conditions based on a data set from May and June 2010 - just one month after the rig sank.
Their calculated results, based on gas detection conducted in 70 different locations throughout the area around the rig, are a third higher than those compiled by the government, according to co-author Ian McDonald.
Although there is substantial uncertainty involved, the released gas expressed in terms of barrels of oil equivalent could be anywhere from 1.6 million to 3.1 million barrels.
Lead author Professor Samantha Joye says: "We're not talking about extensive hypoxic areas."
But she adds that microbial oxidation of released methane "will remove oxygen from the system for quite a while".
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