Story at a glance
- The USCG found aerial evidence of oil release in the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricane Ida.
- At least two oil companies responded by hiring cleanup teams to help identify the source of the oil release.
- Coast Guard data suggests that the spillage has significantly decreased.
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is monitoring hundreds of reports of oil spills, in partnership with natural gas company Talos Energy, to identify the source of an oil release off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.
As Hurricane Ida made its way northward and hit Louisiana as a destructive Category 4 hurricane, gusty winds damaged offshore oil rigs and natural gas processing plants. The USCG members in the National Strike Force conducted aerial inspections on Sunday of some of the sources of the oil spills following roughly 350 reports of oil spills along the Gulf Coast, per a press release.
Officials estimated the impact area for one of the spills to be about 100 yards long and 100 yards wide.
Simultaneously, Talos Energy hired a response and cleanup team to address the spill, although it denied responsibility on Tuesday.
Company officials said that Talos authorities were alerted to the spill on Bay Marchand Block 5 off the coast of Port Fourchon in Louisiana waters since the company previously leased the block for oil and natural gas drilling.
Talos said that they halted production from Block 5 in 2017. Officials alerted the company to reports of oil spills on Aug. 31 and disseminated cleanup teams on Sept. 1.
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“Our team is doing everything possible to spearhead a fast, effective and safe containment and clean-up,” John Spath, Talos’s senior vice president of Production Operations, stated. “Although the spill was unrelated to our operations, it was important to mobilize and identify the source and to contain the release to reduce safety and environmental risks.”
Fellow drilling company S2 Energy also contracted an Oil Spill Response Organization to boom the impacted area, or set up flotation devices to help contain the spillage. Overflight data revealed a wellhead owned by S2 Energy was discharging oil 5 miles from the Bay Marchand site, but the well has been secured as of Monday.
Coast Guard teams also said they observed no active oil spillage as of Tuesday.
The USCG initially found evidence of an oil release into Gulf waters following aerial surveillance. Talos said that more recent overflights from the USCG confirmed the volume of oil being spilled has decreased substantially, with no apparent effect to marine life or shorelines.
A second drilling company, Enterprise Offshore Drilling, has a rig south of Port Fourchon near the site of the oil discharge. USGS crews did not find any active oil spillage near the rig.
Enterprise issued a statement on the company website, saying that crews had evacuated the rig amid Ida, and the structure did not suffer any damage resulting in oil spills.
“Enterprise Offshore Drilling is committed to our ESG pledge and takes our promise of protecting the environment and running responsible operations very seriously,” the company said.
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