Scientific American | How Microbes Helped Clean BP's Oil Spill Scientific American As Reddy suggests, the microbes got help from the nature of the oil spilled—so-called Louisiana light, sweet crude mixed with natural gas, as opposed to bitumen or other heavy, gunky oils. "It's a whole lot easier to degrade," says Christopher D'Elia, ... Oil spill forum revealed many concerns five years later BP's deepwater oil hunt off Australia evokes Gulf disaster fears BP cuts hundreds of jobs as profits fall by nearly $1 billion |