Discharged Oil News

Around 61,165 barrels of daily oil output from at least six producers, making up about 3% of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, has been shut in by Third Coast Infrastructure's underwater pipeline leak, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday.The oil producers whose facilities are impacted include W&T Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Walter Oil and Gas, Cantium, Arena Offshore and Talos Energy Ventures, the Coast Guard said, citing the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of…

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said it was still looking for the source of a leak from an underwater pipeline off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico that it estimated had released more than a million gallons of crude oil.The 67-mile long pipeline was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Thursday morning, after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans."Overflight teams observed visible oil Friday moving southwest away from the Louisiana shore…

Spain has detained and fined a Maltese-flagged oil tanker it says discharged oil in open waters near the northeastern port city of Tarragona, a transport ministry department said.Spain's Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines have become hubs for shipping activity including the transfer of oil known as ship-to-ship (STS) operations, which industry sources say are becoming an increasing safety concern.Spanish authorities said they had intercepted the Lagertha after a discharge of hydrocarbons was detected by aircraft sensors and satellite radar on Feb.

A Singaporean-flagged oil tanker discharged oil on the Lower Mississippi River near Kenner, La., on Thursday.U.S. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received notification at 6:08 p.m. that the Hafnia Rhine discharged oil during a fueling operation with a fuel barge at Ama Anchorage, mile marker 115. Watchstanders dispatched Coast Guard pollution responders to the scene.The tanker crew secured the oil discharge, but Sector New Orleans pollution investigators estimated up to 2…

An abandoned, partially sunken tugboat is actively discharging oil within Krause Lagoon in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.The amount of oil discharged from the tug Cape Lookout remains unknown, while the maximum potential discharge based on the size of the vessel fuel and lube oil tanks is approximately 48,000 gallons of fuel and 2,000 gallons of lube oil, the Coast Guard said, adding it is unknown how full both tanks are at this time.“Due to the immediate pollution threat this vessel represents to the environment and surrounding area…

A sunken towing vessel has reportedly discharged oil and is blocking the channel in Pass a Loutre near Venice, La., the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday.The Coast Guard said it is responding to the incident after having received a report around 2 a.m. Monday that the towing vessel Dejeanne Maria had struck a submerged object and began sinking while pushing two empty dry cargo barges downbound on the Mississippi River.The three people who were aboard the Dejeanne Maria at the time transferred to the towing vessel Supporter 1.The Dejeanne Maria is submerged with its port side above the water. There is a maximum potential of 7,000 gallons of oil on board with a reported 60 gallons having entered the water.Sector New Orleans incident management team mobilized to conduct a shoreline assessment.

The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, and Bouchard Transportation representatives continue to respond Sunday to an oil discharge from a barge that caught fire and was extinguished on Friday three miles off the jetties of Port Aransas, Texas. Response efforts continue to minimize impact to the environment and the maritime community, which has enabled the Coast Guard to reopen the impacted ship channels. Discharge from the barge cargo tanks appears to have stopped following the removal of 2,500 barrels of oil-water mix from the barge through lightering operations. Lightering is currently suspended due to weather, but will resume with improvement in sea conditions. Containment boom remains in place around the vessel, though sheening from the barge and containment boom is present.

Norwegian firm Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping), and four of its employees, are now under three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Lafayette, LA, all relating to alleged environmental crimes and their cover ups. The company was indicted in a US court on May 13 charged with obstructing justice and with environmental crimes. DSD Shipping is a Norwegian-based shipping company that operates the oil tanker M/T Stavanger Blossom, a vessel engaged in the international transportation of crude oil. The employees named in the indictment are four engineering officers employed by DSD Shipping to work aboard the vessel: Daniel Paul Dancu, 51, of Romania; Bo Gao, 49, of China; Xiaobing Chen, 34, of China; and Xin Zhong, 28, of China.

China's biggest oil and gas company China National Petroleum Corp.(CNPC ) has expressed interested in  a terminal in Kyaukphyu in Myanmar  to receive imported Liquefied natural gas (LNG). China National Petroleum Corporation has proposed developing a terminal in Kyaukphyu to receive imported LNG, local media quoted an official from state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. He said that companies from China, Korea, Japan, Norway, Singapore and Thailand have already proposed investment into LNG development projects in Myanmar, and feasibility studies have been completed. The Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline, which begins at Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State, began full operations in late 2013.

An Italian shipping firm based in Genoa, Italy, pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by falsifying required ships’ documents to hide the fact that the ship had illegally discharged oil contaminated waste into the ocean on multiple occasions, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Carbofin S.PA. (Carbofin) agreed to plead…

In December 2013, the EPA through its Vessel General Permit (VGP) will introduce the mandatory use of “Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants” or EALs. These products include the lubricating oils that are directly used in applications referred to as “oil to sea interfaces” where the only thing holding the oil from entering the water is a simple seal or gasket. Understanding what this all means to you is important. Bio-degradability rating of 60% or more in 28 days (the minimum criteria to also be classified as “readily biodegradable”).

The Benefits to the Scope of Coverage in an Expanded Responder Immunity Regime are many. The response industry has been extremely supportive of a coalition effort to work with Congress to enact enhancements to the current responder immunity provisions enacted by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA 90”). Unfortunately, however, Congress has not taken immediate action following the Deepwater Horizon incident, which occurred almost 3.5 years ago, like it did following the Exxon Valdez incident in 1989 to enact legislation to remedy deficiencies identified as a result of the incident. Congress acted in approximately 18 months following the Exxon Valdez incident.

Not long after specialized tank ships were developed, enabling the carriage of large quantities of oil and petroleum products, groundings, collisions, and other casualties started causing significant oil spills. In those early days, there was no financial incentive to clean up such spills. To the extent that there was a response, it was often by Good Samaritans, a term derived from a parable found in the Bible at Luke 10:25-37 about a stranger from Samaria who, with no thought of reward, came to the aid of an injured robbery victim in Judah.

What is the duty of a vessel owner when his vessel sinks and becomes a hazard? What is a facility’s duty when it comes to vessels at their docks? On top of the oil, wreckage, and loss of use, there are legal duties and penalties for parties associated with the vessel – under relevant federal and state statutes – after it sinks. It’s the call that most owners/operators do not like to get: their vessel is partially submerged at a dock or in some navigable waterway and poses a threat to navigation.

Company to Pay More Than $1 Million for Dumping Oily Waste into Hawaiian Waters, Obstruction of Justice and Covering up Oil Pollution. Keoje Marine Co. Ltd. and two engineers from the M/T Keoje Tiger pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Honolulu to environmental crimes violations, announced Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni. Keoje Marine was sentenced to pay a $1.15 million criminal penalty…

The chief engineer the M/V Katerina, which was equipped with pipes to bypass an important water pollution-control device, was sentenced today to eight months in federal jail for his conviction on obstruction of justice charges. Edgardo A. Guinto, 49, of the Philippines, was sentenced this afternoon in Los Angeles by United States District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. Guinto pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge in January, admitting that he allowed the bypassing of the oil-water separator on the Katerina, that he instructed crew members to remove and conceal the bypass pipe when the ship came into Long Beach, and that he made fraudulent entries in the ship's pollution-prevention records known as the Oil Record Book.

A Japanese shipping company admitted that it intentionally failed to maintain required records concerning overboard discharges of oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge water from one of its cargo ships, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice, Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency announced. MK Shipmanagement Company, Ltd. pleaded guilty to one felony count of intentionally failing to maintain an oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and will pay a total of $350,000 in criminal fines and community service payments. U.S. District Judge William H. Walls took the guilty plea from the corporation. Sentencing is scheduled for July 18.

Noel Abrogar, Chief Engineer of the M/V Magellan Phoenix, was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and one day, and three years of probation for falsifying records that attempted to conceal repeated overboard discharges of oil waste from the ship, the Justice Department announced today. Abrogar pleaded guilty on September 7, 2005 to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, based on his role in discharging oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge waste directly into the ocean from the M/V Magellan Phoenix and then falsifying the ship’s records to cover up the discharges between December 2004 and March 2005. The government’s investigation began on March 25…