WASHINGTON (AP) – Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida have identified the apparent source as a diameter pipeline displaced from a trench to the ocean floor and open.
Talos Energy, the Houston-based company that currently pays for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the destroyed pipeline does not belong to them.
The company said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the broken pipe.
Two additional 4-inch pipes were also identified in the area that are open and apparently abandoned. The company’s statement did not make it clear whether it was leaking oil from the two smaller pipelines, but satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press on Saturday appeared to show at least three different cuts in the same area, the largest adrift more from a dozen miles (more than 19 miles) east along the Gulf Coast.
The AP reported on Wednesday for the first time that aerial photos showed a mile-long brown and black oil slick which stretches about 3 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The broken pipe is in relatively shallow water, about 10 meters deep.
Talos said the rate of oil appearing on the surface had dropped dramatically in the past 48 hours and no heavy black crude had been seen in the last day.
So far, the spill appears to have remained offshore and has not affected the Louisiana coast. There is still no estimate of how much oil was in the water.
The Coast Guard said Saturday that its response teams are monitoring reports and satellite imagery to determine the scope of the download, which is located in Bay Marchand, block 4. Talos previously rented Bay Marchand, block 5, but left production there in 2017, and removed all pipeline infrastructure in 2019, according to the company.
The area where the spill is located has been drilled for oil and gas for decades. Federal lease maps show it contains a network of old pipes, clogged wells and abandoned platforms, along with newer infrastructure still in use.
With the source of the oil unclear, Talos hired Clean Gulf Associates to respond to the spill. Clean Gulf, a non-profit oil spill response cooperative that works with the energy exploration and production industry, has since Wednesday two 95-foot vessels at the spill site trying to contain and recover crude of water.
The Bay Marchand spill is one of dozens of reported environmental hazards that state and federal regulators are tracking in Louisiana and the Gulf after the Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Port Fourchon a week ago. The region is a major center of production for the American petrochemical industry.
The AP also reported for the first time on Wednesday on images from a national atmospheric and ocean survey showing extensive flooding and what appeared to be oil in the water. at the extensive Phillips 66 Alliance refinery located along the Mississippi River south of New Orleans.
After AP released the photos, the Environmental Protection Agency commissioned a specially equipped survey aircraft to fly over the refinery on Thursday, as well as other industrial sites in the area hardest hit by the wind and storm surge. 150 mph (240 km / h) hurricane. .
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said a state assessment team sent to the Alliance refinery observed that a heavy oil spill with feathers and absorbent pads was being addressed. A dike had been broken to protect the plant, which allowed water to flood during the storm and come out again as the tide receded.
State environmental officials said there is also no estimate available as to how much oil could have been spilled from the Phillips 66 refinery.
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