Oil Spill News

Authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala are racing to contain an oil spill in the Arabian Sea after the Liberia-flagged container vessel MSC ELSA3 sank over the weekend, releasing fuel and more than 100 cargo containers into the water.The vessel was en route from Vizhinjam to Kochi when it capsized approximately 38 nautical miles off the Kerala coast on Saturday. All 24 crew members were safely rescued, according to local officials. The cause of the incident has not yet been disclosed.The Kerala chief minister’s office confirmed Sunday that the entire ship is now submerged.

The US Coast Guard Sector San Juan’s Incident Management team is responding to an oil discharge from a legacy pipe structure between piers 2 and 3 in San Juan Habor, Puerto Rico. “The source of the oil discharge is being contained and, while contained, will allow normal port operations to continue at Piers 2 and 3 as our investigation and response efforts continue,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ray Lopez, Coast Guard Sector San Juan Incident Management Division chief.Coast Guard watchstanders…

Responders have recovered approximately 32,718 gallons of oily water mixture after a spill that occurred on April 26 in a marsh environment near the Garden Island Bay Production Facility company's well in Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.Pollution response efforts have now been federally assumed from the Responsible Party, Spectrum OpCo, to mitigate the discharge of oil. The Federal on Scene Coordinator accessed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and contracted Environmental Safety & Health Consulting Services Inc.

Guyana's government has submitted an oil pollution bill to the Parliament proposing to make responsible parties liable for damages caused by oil spills, including from vessels, according to a copy of the act published in the Official Gazette.The South American country, whose oil production is controlled by an Exxon Mobil-led consortium is expected to surpass 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, is trying to reinforce oversight of its nascent energy industry, where all crude and gas output comes from offshore fields.Responsible parties shall provide financial assurance to cover spills…

The Unified Command, consisting of the US Coast Guard, Spectrum OpCo (Operator), and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO), continue to respond an oil and natural gas release in coastal Louisiana.This spill occurred on April 26 in a marsh environment near the Garden Island Bay Production Facility company's well in Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.The Unified Command has more than 150 responders supporting response efforts. This includes the deployment of six MARCO skimmers…

The US Coast Guard, operator Spectrum OpCo and the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO) have established a Unified Command in response to an oil and gas mixture release in a marsh environment near the Garden Island Bay Production Facility company's well in Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.An overflight by an LOSCO aircrew on Saturday confirmed the presence of crude oil. The operator is implementing its federal and state approved emergency oil…

The Johor Port Authority has informed the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) that the oil leak at Langsat Terminal has stopped and that the spill clean-up at the site is ongoing.On April 3, an oil patch was sighted in the eastern Johor Strait off the northeastern coast of Pulau Ubin.Three patrol craft from the MPA and an oil spill response craft have been deployed to survey the area and carry out mitigation efforts.The Johor Port Authority confirmed an oil spill incident within the Langsat Terminal in Johor.

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds) has offered its view on the collision between the Solong and Stena Immaculate off the north-east coast of the UK on March 10, saying:“Whilst the United Kingdom is a 1992 Fund Member State and the Stena Immaculate appears to be a ship, as defined in the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions, according to reports, the tanker was carrying jet fuel, which is a non-persistent oil. Therefore, any claims for compensation in the event of pollution damage resulting from this incident would not be covered by the 1992 Conventions.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has conducted a table-top exercise with Indonesia and Malaysia to enhance regional coordination and strengthen response capabilities for oil spills. The exercise brought together over 20 representatives from MPA, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Sea Transportation, Malaysia’s Environment Department, and oil spill response experts from ITOPF.As part of Singapore’s chairmanship of the Revolving Fund Committee (RFC) from April 2022 until March 2027, MPA led the exercise to foster collaboration.

Russia declared a regional state of emergency on Saturday in Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, as workers cleared tons of contaminated sand and earth on either side of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month.Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russia-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol, said new traces of minor pollution required urgent elimination and declared a state of emergency in the city - giving authorities more power to take swift decisions…

Spilled oil has washed up along "tens of kilometres" of the Russian Black Sea coast after two tankers were badly damaged in a storm at the weekend, a regional official said on Tuesday, and state media said a third vessel was now in trouble.TASS news agency said the third ship, also a tanker, had issued a distress signal off the port of Kavkaz, but its hull was still intact, there was no oil spillage and the crew was safe.The first ship, the Volgoneft 212, split in half on Sunday in the Kerch Strait, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

A Russian oil tanker carrying thousands of tonnes of oil products split apart during a heavy storm on Sunday, spilling oil into the Kerch Strait, while another tanker was also in distress after sustaining damage, Russian officials said.The vessels were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when they issued distress signals.Russian investigators opened two criminal cases to look into possible safety violations after at least one person was killed when the 136-metre Volgoneft 212 tanker…

Three years after bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off Mauritius, spilling 1000 tons of a new type of marine fuel oil, Curtin University-led research has confirmed the oil is still present in an environmentally sensitive mangrove forest close to Ramsar conservation sites.Lead researcher Dr. Alan Scarlett, from Curtin’s WA Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Center in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the chemical ‘fingerprint’ of the oil found in…

Plains All American Pipeline has agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill in Santa Barbara, a filing showed on Tuesday.The spill occurred after a pipeline, which ran across California's coastline, ruptured and spilled an estimated 126,000 gallons of oil into the ocean and on the beaches.In 2020, the California State Lands Commission and insurance firm Aspen American Insurance had sued Plains All American - the operator of the failed pipeline - alleging negligence…

An oil spill has occurred off Changi in Singapore during a bunkering operation between the Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Ines Corrado and a licensed bunker tanker.The incident occurred at about 5.40pm on October 28, and bunkering operations ceased immediately. Singapore MPA craft arrived at about 5.50pm and sprayed dispersants.An estimated 5 tonnes of oil was reported to have overflowed.As a precautionary measure, a Current Buster has been deployed off Changi to recover oil on water, if sighted.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has issued an update on the HMNZS Manawanui sinking in Samoa saying it is evaluating what is possible to plug the residual diesel engine room leak while planning for the safe removal of containers on the reef and monitoring and assessing the debris field and fuel sheen.The dive and hydrographic ship struck a reef south of Upolu on October 5. All 75 people aboard were successfully rescued.Based on the estimated diesel sheen size, it is likely significantly less diesel has leaked than initially assessed.

Cleanup efforts are underway after a 105-foot yacht caught fire, capsized and spilled oil in Marina del Rey, Calif., the U.S. Coast Guard said.The motor yacht The Admiral reportedly went up in flames around 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, and a crew from Los Angeles County Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported.By Thursday morning, the yacht was discovered to be discharging red-dye diesel. The vessel’s fuel capacity is said to be 6,000 gallons.A Unified Command including members of the Coast Guard…

The operation has started to tow a Greek-registered oil tanker stranded in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi militants last month, a shipping source told Reuters on Saturday.Towing the 900-foot (274.2-metre) MV Sounion to safety is the first step in a risky operation to salvage the vessel that caught fire after it was repeatedly attacked on Aug. 21.The second step is the transfer of its cargo of about 1 million barrels of crude oil. Saudi Arabia, a key player in the region…

Efren Dominico has been a fisherman in the Bay of Manila in the Philippines for 43 years and survived countless storms, but nothing prepared him for the day when an oil tanker sank off the coast in July and cut him off from his livelihood.The motor tanker Terranova capsized and sank off the tow of Limay, on the western side of Manila Bay, carrying 1.4 million litres of oil, the largest oil spill in the country since 2006.Days later, two more fuel tankers sank off the coast of a neighbouring town…

Investigators have placed a Cyprus-registered containership in their crosshairs as the possible source of an oil spill in Algoa Bay off South Africa's East Coast.The spill, which has spread at sea and is impacting the region's wildlife, is believed to have originated from the MSC Apollo, a container vessel anchored in the bay, according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).MSC Apollo is scheduled to dock at the Port of Ngqura as soon as a berth is available for a thorough inspection to identify the source of the oil leak…

Experts will this week resume a risky operation to salvage the Sounion tanker which was attacked by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea last month and still holds about one million barrels of crude oil, maritime sources said on Thursday.The towing of the Greek-registered vessel - which was struck, lost power and caught fire on Aug. 21 - was paused after it was deemed unsafe by the companies initially involved in the project.Officials have said the towing operation will be particularly delicate…

An oil spill off the Spanish island of Gran Canaria forced local authorities to close several beaches in the popular holiday destination on Thursday and declare an environmental emergency.Emergency services said on social messaging platform X that they were alerted on Wednesday night of the accidental spill during a vessel's refueling stop at La Luz port of Las Palmas, the island's capital. It involved a maximum of 3 metric tons of IFO 180, which is designated as a Very Low Sulphur Oil.The name of the vessel was not disclosed.According to the president of Gran Canaria's governing council…

Private companies involved in salvaging the Sounion tanker, which was attacked by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea, are exploring other options after the towing operation was deemed unsafe, the European Union's naval mission said on Tuesday.The Sounion, which was struck on Aug. 21 and which the Houthis and maritime sources have said has been rigged with explosives, is laden with about one million barrels of crude oil and still on fire.The EU's naval force Aspides has said it will…