According to a written release from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) an estimated “5,300 gallons of crude oil leaked from a pipeline (owned) by Harvest Pipeline Company after it was struck by a Great Lakes Drdge and Dock Company vessel that was conducting excavation operations”. The channel reopened at 3:31pm, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
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A tanker fire in the Houston Ship Channel temporarily closed the waterway early Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed.
The Houston Ship Channel links the busiest US petrochemical port to the Gulf of Mexico.
A pilot aboard Hellenic Tankers’ 810′ Aframax River notified Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders at approximately midnight that the berthed tanker was on fire near the Intercontinental Terminals Company.
The tanker caught fire near the intersection of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River.
The fire has been extinguished and all tanker crew members are accounted for with no injuries reported.
The four refineries have a combined crude oil throughput of 761,505 barrels per day (bpd), equal to 4 percent of USA refining capacity.
An oil tanker spill sparked a fire Tuesday and closed down part of the Houston Ship Channel. It was reported that a bunker tank was punctured and caught fire.
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Tankers transiting the Houston Ship Channel supply five refineries in the Houston metropolitan area and three refineries in Texas City, Texas.
