NOAA: Spill oil is 'biodegrading quickly'

VENICE, La., July 27 (UPI) -- A top U.S. official said Tuesday oil in the Gulf of Mexico is "biodegrading quickly" and there has been a decrease in the amount of crude reaching shorelines.

During a daily briefing with reporters, Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, said "a significant amount of the oil" that has spewed into the gulf since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April has dispersed and been biodegraded by bacteria that are naturally abundant in the gulf because of warm water and the availability of nutrients and oxygen.

"While there's more analysis to be done to exactly quantify the rate of biodegradation early indications show that the light crude oil is being, is biodegrading quickly," Lubchenco said.

The NOAA administrator said workers are trying to determine where the oil has gone and where "the remaining impacts are most likely to occur."

Lubchenco said oil has reached 600 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline and satellite imagery indicates surface oil is continuing to break up into "smaller scattered patches."

"With the well already shut in now for a number of days, 12 days, the result of oil reaching shorelines continues to decrease," she said.

The official said "the sheer volume of oil that's out there has to mean there are some pretty significant impacts."

BP chief Tony Hayward, who bore the brunt of anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will leave Oct. 1, replaced by Robert Dudley, the company said Tuesday.

Dudley, a chemical engineer, company board member and, since June, manager of BP's gulf oil spill response from Houston, will be the British company's first American chief executive officer. Hayward will remain on the board during a transition period, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Since Dudley will be based in BP's London headquarters, BP America President Lamar McKay will oversee the day-to-day clean-up effort, CNNMoney.com said.

BP said Hayward's compensation package would include a year's salary, about $1.6 million, CNNMoney.com said. The company said it also plans to nominate Hayward as a non-executive director of BP's Russian oil and gas venture, TNK-BP.

Dudley said during a teleconference he was aware of the challenges facing him to meet the commitment to help the gulf recover, restore investor confidence and rebuild BP's reputation. "But equally I know that BP has a great portfolio of very strong businesses and great professional teams around the globe to ensure we're back on the road to recovery," he said.

The leadership change came as BP reported a second-quarter net loss of $17.2 billion, attributable to a $32.2 billion charge that includes $20 billion for an escrow fund to pay claims resulting from the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

BP also said it would sell assets worth as much as $30 billion over 18 months.

The Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP from the Swiss firm Transocean Ltd. exploded April 20, killing 11 workers, then sank two days later. The crippled well poured tens of millions of gallons of crude into the gulf before it finally was capped July 15.

"I know that with Bob as my successor I leave BP in safe and able hands," Hayward said in prepared remarks.

Hayward nettled Washington and Gulf Coast residents over the way he handled the spill, and many investors said they thought he had to go for the company's sake, The New York Times reported.

"The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which -- as the man in charge of BP when it happened -- I will always feel a deep responsibility, regardless of where blame is ultimately found to lie," Hayward said in a statement.