After months of gloom, a report on the fate of the oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon spill offered a rare piece of good news. "At least 50% of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system," said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), at a White House press conference on 5 August.

M. V. Malavika, an Essar-owned vessel was hit by a barge at Gopalpur port
(Ganjam District, Orissa) on 12 April 2010. A crack developed in the ship

Vernon Asper was one of the first researchers in the Gulf of Mexico to
study the oil gushing out from the BP well. But it has not all been
smooth sailing, reports Mark Schrope.

It started with a story in the Press-Register of Mobile, Alabama. On 16 July, the paper reported that beleaguered oil giant BP was hurriedly signing up scientists to gather data for the company, to aid its defence in cases arising from the Deepwater Horizon spill. The catch was that these lucrative contracts also restricted the scientists