Authorities in Louisiana are carrying out emergency oil spill response training exercises as the Deepwater Horizon platform continues to pump thousands of barrels of oil into territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bloomberg reports that the state's governor Bobby Jindal has confirmed plans to train workers to clean up slicks in local marshland, while prisoners may also be mobilised to help with the operation.

President Barack Obama declared yesterday that the US would use all available resources at its disposal to address the disaster, including potentially the department of defense.

The Deepwater Horizon spill is the worst America has seen in more than four decades, said Dagmar Schimdt Etkin, a Cortland, New York-based oil spill consultant who has worked for BP, the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Well blowouts are extremely rare events and usually when they occur it's only a few barrels," he said.

The Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22nd after an explosion two days earlier.

Getenergy Exploration and Production news