US Coast Guard Responds to Another GoM Oil Spill

December 5, 2023

A Main Pass Gathering Company, LLC Panther helicopter conducts an overflight to observe visible sheen off the coast of Louisiana, Nov. 18, 2023. (Source: US Coast Guard)

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was responding to an oil discharge near the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) Co's pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico, while the main pipeline and several surrounding ones remained shut in.

"The reported sheen is being investigated and has not been confirmed to be associated with the November 16 observed initial discharge," the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard had not yet identified any damage or indication of a leak after surveying the entire length of the pipeline along with 22.16 miles (36 km) of surrounding pipelines. Remote-controlled devices and divers continued to reassess the pipelines.

About 3% of the Gulf of Mexico's daily oil production remained shut in after a million-gallon oil spill, the Coast Guard said last week.

The pipeline was closed by Third Coast's MPOG on November 16 after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles (30 km) offshore the Mississippi River delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans.

The main pipeline and several surrounding lines remain shut in and have not been put back into service, the Coast Guard said while leading efforts to mitigate impacts from the spill.

(Reuters - Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)