Errant gusher: Damaged well sending oil and gas skyward.
New Gulf leak sends oil skyward
Oil is shooting into the air over the US Gulf of Mexico after dredge barge hit a wellhead in the shallow waters of Barataria Bay off Louisiana early this morning.
The dredge barge Captain Buford Berry was being pulled by tug Pere Ana C when it hit the C-177 installation in about six feet of water around 1 am local time.
Coast Guard officials are unsure of the exact condition of the wellhead equipment but enough damage was done to send a mix of oil and natural gas shooting tens of feet into the air.
The well was not producing, but owner Cedyco, a Houston-based junior, had not plugged it and it is currently considered “orphaned,” Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon told Upstream.
A Coast Guard team is on its way from Mobile, Alabama to assess the growing spill, which currently measures about 50 yards by one mile, Bordelon said.
There is no estimate of the flow rate from the well, she said.
The government contracted with Environmental Safety and Health for clean up and the company’s crew is on scene, according to a Coast Guard statement.
Wild Well Control has been brought in to do the plug-and-abandon job, Bordelon said.
Neither vessel involved in the incident had any association with the response to BP’s Macondo oil spill in the US Gulf, but resources from that massive cleanup effort will likely be deployed to deal with this latest spill, retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said at a press conference today.
Allen said there are already “significant resources” in Barataria Bay, including skimmers and booming vessels that could help out.
There are already about 6000 feet of boom laid around the sheen, he said.
Cleanup will be paid for through the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
