Source: Dow Jones News Service, October 15, 2017
Posted on: http://www.advisen.com
An offshore pipeline fracture that has spilled as much as 9,350 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico near Louisiana appeared to be contained, the company responsible said on Sunday.
LLOG Exploration Company LLC on Thursday morning discovered the spill, which stemmed from a fracture of some of its infrastructure in 4,463 feet of water, 40 miles southeast of Venice, La. The offshore oil producer estimated the spill had released between 7,950 and 9,350 barrels of oil and said it said it would be monitoring the area with authorities to clean up oil where possible.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said no shoreline impacts have been reported, and there were no reports of injuries. It is investigating the cause.
The spill appeared to be one of the largest in the Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, which killed 11 people and released more than 4 million barrels of crude. The BSEE, which regulates offshore oil activity, said it didn’t immediately have data available on where the spill ranked by volume.
U.S. authorities said three sheens of oil visible on the water’s surface Saturday morning during an observation flight dissipated as the weekend went on and there appeared to be no risk to shoreline impact.
“Four over flights were conducted throughout Saturday and have identified no additional visible oil,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement late Saturday. “Any surface oil is expected to move in a southwesterly direction and is not expected to impact the shoreline.”
LLOG, a private offshore oil exploration company based in Covington, La., said it was working alongside the Coast Guard to gauge the movement of any of the spilled crude oil.
“There continues to be no detection of potentially related oil on the surface (six flights since Friday night),” the company said in an email. “Multiple barriers are in place on either side of the fracture.”
The spill was discovered by workers who noticed volume numbers from data collected at a well and numbers collected on a platform at the surface weren’t adding up. LLOG said it is investigating the cause but doesn’t believe a hurricane created the fracture because tests before opening the well confirmed it was in good shape.
Spills of this size are relatively rare in the Gulf of Mexico, where federal authorities have tightened regulations following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. There were three reported offshore spills of over 50 barrels last year, according to federal data, including a spill at a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline that released an estimated 2,100 barrels in May 2016.
Mark Salvo with Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington-based environmental group, said the LLOG oil spill is another unfortunate reminder of the inherent risks of drilling for fossil fuels.
“In addition to the immeasurable immediate effects from oil spills — including from bursted pipelines — the impacts on fish, wildlife and ecosystems could last for years,” Mr. Salvo said.
The Coast Guard said two response vessels, one from Clean Gulf Associates and Marine Spill Response Corp., are on scene to help with the cleanup and it is coordinating with LLOG, the BSEE and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to locate and respond to any oil that reaches the surface.