The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday mentioned it was nonetheless searching for the supply of a leak from an underwater pipeline off the Louisiana coast within the Gulf of Mexico that it estimated had launched greater than 1,000,000 gallons of crude oil.
The 67-mile lengthy pipeline was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Thursday morning, after crude oil was noticed round 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta, close to Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans.
“Overflight teams observed visible oil Friday moving southwest away from the Louisiana shore,” the Coast Guard mentioned, as oil restoration efforts continued and underwater units surveyed the pipeline to search out the leak’s supply.
While the precise quantity of discharged oil was not recognized, the Coast Guard, which was leading the clean-up, mentioned preliminary engineering calculations positioned the quantity of the leak at 1.1 million gallons, or 26,190 barrels.
It added that there have been no reported accidents or shoreline impacts to this point, and the reason for the leak was beneath investigation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mentioned on Friday that the Coast Guard had activated the National Response Team, comprising 15 federal entities liable for coordinating the response to grease air pollution incidents.
Third Coast Infrastructure, which owns MPOG, declined to touch upon Friday and referred inquiries to the Coast Guard.
(Reuters – Reporting by Deep Vakil and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
