Editor's Note: We are not scientists and cannot know that petroleum is coming up through the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico. However, "A grim technical view on the BP Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico", written by "Doug R.", republished on Axis of Logic, seems to indicate that well itself has been compromised:

"These are clear and present dangers to the battered subsea safety structure (bop and lmrp) which is the only loose cork on this well we have left. The immediate (first 1,000 feet) of well structure that remains is now also undoubtedly compromised. However.....as bad as that is?...it is far from the only possible problems with this very problematic well. There were ongoing troubles with the entire process during the drilling of this well. There were also many comprises made by BP IMO which may have resulted in an overall weakened structure of the entire well system all the way to the bottom plug which is over 12,000 feet deep."

Below, excerpts from Alex Higgins' description introduce the videos which he published on YouTube below. Alex makes no claim of expertise in this area and describes himself as a "Senior NJ ASP.Net Developer". He has been covering the disaster on his blog.

- Les Blough, Editor

BP denies that oil or gas are leaking from cracks in the sea floor on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

This is just one of many videos that may prove otherwise. The video here seems to skip frames so here are two slow motion clips (one republished here) that show that this is definitely not silt being kicked up by the ROV.

This video was recorded from the Viking Poseidon -- ROV 1 on June 13th, 2010 at 2:58 AM EST.

Location of the sea floor crack leaking:
N:10431633.05
E: 1202852.27

Some things to point out: After rewinding it a few times you can see the clear progression of oil coming from the rocks: At 2:45 coagulated oil rises from the cracks pretty much confirming this is oil and not mud. Toward the end of the video you see bubbles of gas and can clearly see this a rock formation on the sea floor. My calculations indicate:

The ROV is 19.11 feet north and 55.75 feet west of the leak point.
The ROV is 58.93 feet away from the leak point.

Gulf seafloor crack leak slow motion loop