Oil Spill NEWS

Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping, chartered by Mitsui OSK ran aground on a reef in Mauritius on July 25 and later began leaking oil, causing a marine ecological disaster around the Indian Ocean Island. Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd stood to spend about $9.42 million on measures to help Mauritius for the clean-up of the island’s mangrove forests. In addition, the shipping company plans to provide further support to local fishing and tourism industries.

The Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline has been shut down since early Saturday following an oil spill at a pump station in British Columbia. The pipeline crew are responding to a release at its Sumas Pump Station in Abbotsford, British Columbia, after an alarm was received early in the morning, Trans Mountain Corp said in a statement. The spill has been contained and cleanup is underway, the company said.

A crude oil spill due to pipeline bursting prompted by a landslide this week has Ecuador sweating as it tries to limit the environmental impact in the country’s Amazon region. A statement released by the Ecuadorean Energy Ministry said that it had put barriers around the spill in an area inhabited by indigenous communities and near a drinking water source for the city of El Coca.

South Korean coast guard and the refiner S-Oil, yesterday, informed about containing a crude oil spill from the refiner's offshore buoy off the southeastern coast of the country. The leak which occurred early Wednesday was attributed to the buoy's broken pressure gauge, however, the leak source was later sealed, the Ulsan Coast Guard said in a statement. S-Oil is investigating the case, a spokesman for the company said.

A fuel spill in the Galapagos Islands set off emergency protocols across South American country, Ecuador on Sunday. The spill came after a barge transporting 600 gallons of diesel fuel sank, officials said. The accident, which took place at a port on San Cristobal Island, happened when a crane buckled while stacking a container onto the barge. The falling container destabilized the ship, causing it to sink.

The Norwegian energy major, Equinor, yesterday, said that it will commence cleaning activities for onshore oil spill discovered this week at its Bahamas storage terminal. The size of the oil spill which took place in the aftermath of hurricane Dorian has not been estimated yet. Operations at the South Riding Point terminal came to a halt on Aug 31st in lieu of the hurricane Dorian.

Environmental expert, RD Tripathi has denied the threat of an oil spill from the sinking of the dredger, Tridevi Prem, which sank near Mangaluru on September 2. Talking to reporters on Friday, Tripathi reasoned that since there was no blast or damage to the ship while it sank, the fuel compartments will remain intact. Chairman, NMPT had a similar reply, who based his argument on the water samples from the site.

MODEC has informed Petrobras about the cracks at the hull of FPSO Cidade do Rio de Janeiro, at the Espadarte field. Leakage of 1.2 cubic meters of residual oil was reported during the weekend. Seven vessels have been sent to the location for recovery and dispersion. FPSO Cidade do Rio de Janeiro is in departure procedure from Espadarte location.

Oil supermajor Chevron has been ordered by the California regulators to end the ongoing spill into the California canyon. The leak has been occurring on and off since May, at a location where Chevron infuses steam to obtain underground crude oil. California regulators have blamed Chevron of not doing enough to end the oil spill that put about 800,000 gallons of crude oil and water into a Kern County canyon.

Husky Energy yesterday said that the firm would pay $3.8 million in fine for the 2016 Saskatchewan oil spill. A Husky unit-operated pipeline was discovered to be leaking in the North Saskatchewan River, reportedly caused by ground movement over time. Husky affirmed about learning lessons from the pipeline leak including systematic geotechnical reviews of pipelines. The firm now uses fiber optic sensing technology for all the new large diameter projects.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court after hearing about the “unplanned release” fined Dana Petroleum £6,000. The court was informed that on July 9, 2016 during the drilling of Well U1-4 at the Ocean Guardian Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit, low toxicity oil based mud was released from onto the sea bed. The failure of the cement job at the casing shoe has been reported as the cause of release.

Traffic resumed at the Houston Ship Channel amidst continuous cleanup efforts to cover up the aftermath of a spill in the region. A collision in the channel between a 755-foot oil tanker and a tug pushing two barges on Friday spilled thousands of barrels of gasoline blending product into the channel. US Coast Guard informed that the collision capsized one barge, impaired the other and triggered the leak.

In a regulatory filing, Brazilian state-run Petrobras has informed about an oil spill that occurred offshore Espirito Santo, Brazil. Approximately 188 cubic meters of oil was spilled during a routine transfer to a vessel at platform P-58 in Bacia dos Campos, Espirito Santo state. Petrobras has assured against any oil reaching the shore, which is 80 km away. The oil major is currently investigating the incident.

Canada’s Husky Energy and government agencies began underwater surveying on Monday, following an oil leak in the waters of Newfoundland & Labrador which forced shut down of all crude production in the region. Approximately 1,572 barrels of oil spill through a leaking flowline was detected from Husky’s White Rose Field to the SeaRose storage vessel on Friday. Canada-Newfoundland & Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board will decide when operations can resume.

Many technologies have been developed in the recent past to soak oil spills, but they suffered from one or the other limitation. Recently, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Forestry have developed reusable wood sponges to soak oil spills from water bodies. It has been made by Xiaoqing Wang and colleagues from the Academy. The tests revealed that the sponge absorbs 16 to 41 times its own weight.

British E&P major, EnQuest Plc concluded first ship-to-ship transfer at the Shetland’s Sullom Voe terminal. EnQuest transferred 500,000 barrels of crude oil with the help of the Canadian-registered shuttle tanker, The Heather Knutsen. Environmental groups in other parts of Scotland have been against the practice of ship-to-ship transfers over crude oil over potential oil spill in the sea.

A Santa Barbara County jury held pipeline giant, Plains All American guilty in the 2015 California oil spill row. The coastal spill has been ranked the worst in the last 25 years in California. The pipeline operator released a statement which said that the company "accepts full responsibility for the impact of the accident”. The decision on the penalties to be imposed will come on December 13.

The BNSF Railway Co has stated that almost half of the crude oil spilled near Rock River in northwest Iowa has been contained. A freight train derailment took place last Friday, leading to approximately 230,000 gallons of oil spillage. Skimmers and vacuum trucks are being used to clean up the spill, and about 100,000 gallons have been hemmed off using booms. BNSF assured of zero casualties in the accident.