Gulf oil burn method has Newfoundland roots

Officials organizing a controlled burn of oil seeping from a well in the Gulf of Mexico are using techniques developed 17 years ago off the coast of Newfoundland.

BP and the U.S. Coast Guard started burning a large slick Wednesday, near the debris of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and sank last week.

Officials are worried that the slick is moving too quickly toward Louisiana and could pose an environmental nightmare.

"We want to fight this spill as far offshore as possible," Neil Chapman, an official with London-based BP, told CBC News.

"It was found that this method was effective as an oil removal technique — it removed much of the oil, between 50 and 99 per cent of it," Chapman said.

Those conclusions are based on a 1993 experiment that the Canadian government organized off Newfoundland's east coast. At that time, none of the oilfields now operating were in production, but officials were concerned about how to contain a spill.

Carl Brown, a research manager with Environment Canada, said the 1993 experiment showed a controlled burn can be successful as long as the oil is contained.

"You need to be able to corral the oil a little bit," he said. "The oil has to have a minimum thickness of two or three millimetres before it will sustain a burn, but the technology is transferable."

BP has not yet disclosed how it plans to stop oil from flowing from the shattered well.

Chapman acknowledged that a burn will force carbon into the atmosphere and cause air pollution.

"There are going to be impacts, but it's weighing out [what is] the least impactful ... what's wanted is to clear up the oil," he said.

A second leak in the well was discovered Wednesday and scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said they believe that 5,000 barrels a day of oil was pouring — about five times more than previously thought.