Oil Spill Recovery News

Efforts are ramping up to recover oil spewing from a grounded cargo vessel that's being torn apart in stormy weather off the coast of South Africa, officials said.Salvage efforts have been ongoing since the Panamanian-registered general cargo vessel Ultra Galaxy drifted onto a sand bank close to Doring Bay, about 186 miles north of Cape Town, on July 9 after the ship's crew abandoned the vessel when it started taking on water.In recent days, the wreck has been battered by severe weather and high swells…

The authorities in Singapore have started the next phase of an oil spill clean-up operation, caused by the allision of a dredger and a bunker vessel, with the additional deployment of various booms and oil recovery systems.The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that 1500 meters of booms have been deployed, and an additional 1600 meters will be deployed over the next few days in designated sites to support the containment of accumulated oil to facilitate the clean…

First responders and volunteers from Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday sought to contain an oil spill detected last week in the Caribbean country's waters and clean areas of Tobago island's coast already affected by the incident.Trinidad and Tobago's coast guard first spotted the spill on Feb. 7, about 6 kilometers off the coast of Studley Park, the chief secretary of Tobago's national assembly, Farley Augustine, said in a press conference on Sunday.Barriers have been installed to contain the spill…

The U.S. Coast Guard was leading an oil spill clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, partnering with local and federal agencies and companies after a Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) underwater pipeline began leaking.The crude oil pipeline is around 19 miles (30 km) offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, east of Venice, Louisiana, the U.S.

An offshore oil spill near Ecuador's coast reached a popular beach on Wednesday, authorities said, while also showing up in nearby waters as one local official blamed "human error" following a preliminary investigation into the incident. State oil company Petroecuador, which runs the Balao maritime terminal where the spill originated, said in a statement it had mobilized workers to contain it but did not disclose how much crude was unleashed into the ocean. The company added it had launched clean up efforts.

Environment and disaster authorities in the Philippines rushed to contain an oil spill on Friday from a sunken fuel tanker that has reached coastal towns on a large central island, warning of dangers to marine ecosystems if more oil leaks. The tanker, MT Princess Empress, was still missing on Friday after sinking en route to Iloilo province carrying about 800,000 litres (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil.The vessel encountered engine trouble on Tuesday due to overheating and drifted due to rough sea conditions, according to the coast guard.

An estimated 3,500 gallons of used lubricant oil that spilled near Calcasieu Point Landing, in Louisiana, has been contained, U.S. Coast Guard officials said in a statement on Tuesday.The discharge, reported on Monday, was discovered to have escaped from the secondary containment at Martin Energy Services, the Coast Guard told Reuters in an emailed statement."The source of the spill has been secured and the oil has been contained with boom along the banks of the Lake Charles Industrial…

A refurbished high-spec oil spill response vessel for the Aegean Sea has entered service under a four-year contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), a contract with an option for four additional years.Dubbed AKTEA II, the OSRV will be able to reach anywhere in the Aegean within 24 hours and can collect and carry up to 4,500 tonnes of oil.Based in Piraeus, Greece AKTEA II OSRV (IMO 9327516) has onboard capacity of 4,486 cu. m. for recovered oil and is equipped with…

The U.S. Coast Guard is responding to an oil spill after an oil tank platform collapsed at the Hilcorp Caillou Island facility in Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana, on Monday.Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Houma personnel initially received a notification from the National Response Center stating the platform experienced a structural failure causing a tank to fall into the water and spill the oil. Environmental Safety & Health Consulting Services has been hired as the oil spill removal organization.

Anglo-French oil company Perenco has declared force majeure for 150 days following a leak at its Cap Lopez oil terminal in Gabon last week, a company spokesperson said on Friday.Overall production shut down is estimated at 50,000 barrels of oil per day, the spokesman said.The company expects production to restart within weeks, but with reduced storage capacity. The terminal normally receives 130,000 barrels of oil per day."We are temporarily re-routing production to the Oguendjo Terminal…

Tunisia will work with other countries that have offered to help it to prevent environmental damage after a merchant ship carrying up to one thousand tonnes of oil sank in Tunisian waters, the defense ministry said on Sunday.The [Xelo] ship was heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta when it sank seven miles off the coast of the southern city of Gabes on Friday. The Tunisian navy rescued all seven crew members following a distress call.

Ships were deployed in Thailand on Thursday to contain a fresh oil spill off its eastern coast, authorities said, two weeks after an undersea pipeline leak in the same area damaged coastal communities and marine life.The pipeline, owned by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company (SPRC), sprang a leak on Jan. 26 and spewed an estimated 47,100 to 55,000 litres (12,443 to 14,529 gallons) of oil into the sea.It was patched up within a day but not before it damaged a beach area in Rayong province and threatened corals in the shallow waters.The same pipeline on Thursday spilled a further 5…

Peru Environment Minister Ruben Ramirez said on Monday the government will temporarily suspend Repsol's offshore oil unloading operations following a spill of over 10,000 barrels that has caused widespread environmental damage.Ramirez said the suspension of operations would last until the company "can offer technical guarantees that another spill will not happen.""In addition, (the company) has not shown clear cleaning actions."Repsol said in a statement it considered the decision…

Hundreds of workers set up oil barriers along beach fronts in Thailand's eastern Rayong province on Friday as authorities raced to limit the environmental damage from gallons of oil that leaked from an underwater pipeline earlier this week.The leak from a pipeline owned by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited (SPRC) started late on Tuesday and was brought under control a day later after spilling an estimated 50,000 litres (13,209 gallons) of oil into the ocean 20 kilometers…

Peru's environmental regulatory agency said on Wednesday it was investigating the possibility that Spanish energy company Repsol SA was responsible for a second oil spill in as many weeks off the country's central Pacific coast.The suspected new spill may have occurred on Tuesday as Repsol's La Pampilla refinery was withdrawing oil reception and dispatch equipment as part of an investigation into what caused the initial spill blamed on unusually strong waves triggered by a volcanic eruption in Tonga this month, according to the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA).The age

Thailand mobilized its navy and other agencies on Wednesday to contain an oil spill after an estimated 160,000 liters (35,195 gallons) leaked from an undersea pipeline about 20 km (12.4 miles) off its industrialized eastern seaboard.The leak at the pipeline owned by Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited started late on Tuesday, southeast of the Map Ta Phut Industrial estate, a major petrochemical complex, said Atthapol Charoenchansa, director-general of the Pollution…

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency on Thursday as clean-up teams struggled to contain a huge oil spill at the country's biggest refinery, after rogue waves rocked a ship unloading crude there.The spill, blamed on unusual swells caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away in Tonga on Sunday, has dirtied waters and beaches along Peru's Pacific coast, with dead birds and seals washing up on shore."We are at a critical moment in environmental matters," said Castillo, before signing the emergency decree on one of the beaches hit by the spill.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived a fight between BP, two contractors, and an insurance company over who should pay for thousands of personal injury claims brought by cleanup workers after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire in 2010.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed most of a lower court’s rulings for contractors National Response Corp and O’Brien’s Resource Management, and for O’Brien’s excess-liability insurer, Navigators Insurance Co.The decision was not a complete win for BP, however.

Marine services and towage firm KOTUG Canada Inc., a partnership between KOTUG International and Canada’s Horizon Maritime Inc., has won a long-term agreement with Trans Mountain, operator of Canada’s only oil pipeline servicing the West Coast of Canada providing tidewater access to foreign markets for Canada’s petroleum resources. KOTUG Canada will provide escort towage to tankers loaded at Westridge Marine Terminal. "KOTUG Canada was selected for this purpose by shippers on the Trans Mountain Pipeline after a rigorous and competitive process facilitated by Trans Mountain.

Houston, Texas-based Kirby Inland Marine agreed to pay $15.3 million in damages and assessment costs to resolve federal and state claims for harm to natural resources resulting from a 2014 oil spill from a Kirby barge in the Houston Ship Channel, the U.S. Justice Department said.In a related enforcement action in 2016, the United States secured a settlement with Kirby for $4.9 million in civil penalties and injunctive relief measures to improve the company's operations to help…

Amplify Energy Corp withdrew its full-year forecast on Monday, saying that a large oil spill from one of its subsea pipelines in southern California last month forced it to shut its operations in the region.In mid-October, the U.S. Coast Guard said about 588 barrels (25,000 gallons) of crude oil was spilt, about a fifth as much as it initially estimated, from a pipeline connected to an offshore facility owned by Amplify's unit.The oil and gas producer said on Monday that it was under multiple investigations by state and federal authorities over the incident…

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a container ship on Saturday in the Port of Long Beach that dragged its anchor close to a subsea pipeline found to be the source of an oil spill off Orange County, California, it said in a press release.The spill released some 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, blackening the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches south of Los Angeles.In its statement, the Coast Guard said an investigation had determined that the MSC DANIT was involved in the anchor-dragging incident "during a heavy weather event" that impacted Long Beach and Los Angeles ports in January.As a result…

Beaches in a southern California city that were shut because of an oil spill last week are set to reopen on Monday morning, authorities said in a statement.City and state beaches of Huntington Beach city will reopen as water quality testing showed no detectable amounts of oil associated toxins in ocean water, officials from the city and California State Parks said.Last week, some 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, soiling the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches in the cities of Huntington Beach…