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“I wonder, we have to be very responsible about what we say — could it have been a criminal act to harm this auction?” Bolsonaro said. “It’s a question that’s out there.”

Mystery oil floats throughout the oceans. It may arise naturally, from seeps in the ocean floor. Or from ships that leak. Tiny bits and pieces may glom onto bigger bits and pieces, forming tar balls. Some are as small as a fingernail, others as large as a soccer ball.

Some spills remain mysterious for a long time. In 2002, for example, the cause of a spill that had killed thousands of seabirds off the coast of San Francisco was found to be a ship that sank in 1953. Another mystery spill recently hit the Chicago River. But the Brazil spill is different.

“The magnitude of this is extremely rare,” said David Valentine, a marine science researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Photo by ANTONELLO VENERI / AFP

Christopher Reddy, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, has been trying to crack the mystery. Some Brazilian colleagues recently contacted him to help determine the source of the oil, and he’s now analyzing 14 samples with the hopes of determining the molecular structure of the oil by the end of the week.

“The reason oil is fascinating is that it’s very complex and they all have different personalties,” he said. “It’s investigating a sample to try to figure out it’s source and how long it’s been around.”

The Boslonaro administration’s response reinforced the perception among some that Brazil, long a stalwart defender of the environment, is now neglecting that role.

“The current federal government’s inaction is indeed a puzzle,” said Marcus André Melo, a political scientist at the Federal University of Pernambuco. He said it was possible the government had been preoccupied with other tasks – or hadn’t moved on the crisis for political gain.

“It was probably waiting for smoking-gun evidence about Venezuela’s involvement in the spill, make a big fuss about it, and finally intervene,” he said. “The bigger crisis, the higher the benefits.

“This strategy backfired.”