The U.S. Coast Guard and Shell continued to respond over the weekend to the release of some 88,200 gallons of crude oil from a subsea flow line into the Gulf of Mexico approximately 90 miles off the Louisiana coast. According to WWL.com, almost 24,000 gallons of oily water mixture has already been recovered.
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Last Thursday a leak from a pipeline at the Shell oil production field was spotted and clean-up vessels began to skim oil off the Gulf on Friday. The Coast Guard and Shell agreed that on-water recovery vessels and skimming is the safest and most effective way to clean up the oil.
Shell and the U.S. Coast Guard have been cleaning it up and skimming operations have concluded because no more recoverable oil is being found, the company said.
On May 16, BSEE said that production remains shut-in from the two subsea fields that flow to the Brutus Platform, and that it will not approve their restart until all safety concerns and applicable regulations have been met.
The US federal government has tightened up drilling regulations following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people, as well as the coating of thousands of seabirds and marine animals in oil.
On May 12, BSEE reported that the estimated amount of spilled oil was 2,100 barrels (bbl). No impacts to wildlife have been reported. The company said it does not expect any coastline impacts at this time.
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The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement remain involved and is leading an investigation into the cause of the spill.
