Coast Guard Responds to Damaged Oil Wellhead in Bayou Report
A ruptured oil wellhead here discharges a 90-ft. stream of sweet-medium crude oil Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007. The Coast Guard is working with contractors and local, state and federal agencies to contain and cleanup the spill. U.S. Coast Guard photograph courtesy of Air Station New Orleans personnel. The Coast Guard is working with local, state and federal agencies today to respond to an oil spill in Bayou Perot La. The oil spill is the result of a damaged sweet medium crude oil wellhead near mile marker 20 of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway, which was discovered shortly after midnight Saturday. Crews from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, and Marine Safety Units Morgan City, La., and Houma, La., are responding to the spill.
Divers Seal Ruptured Pipeline Off Galveston
Contracted divers for Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline began assessing damage to a ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil pipeline Sunday after the U.S. Coast Guard sealed the break. The rupture, first denoted by a drop in pipeline pressure on Christmas Eve, occurred about 30 miles southeast of Galveston. The leak has spilled an estimated 44,500 gallons of medium crude oil, according to a Coast Guard press release. Plains Pipeline will review it's operational records to determine whether the Coast Guard's spill amount estimate is accurate, company spokesman Jordan Janak said. None of the oil has washed ashore, and weather conditions are dispersing the spill and nudging the leftover sheen away from the coast, the Coast Guard press release states.
