Contractors are attempting to recover up to 15 barrels of crude oil released from the Extex Operating Platform near Turtle Bay, about 9 1/2 miles south of Port Jean Lafitte, the U.S. Coast Guard said. .
The Coast Guard received reports of the release Saturday around 4:30 p.m. A team of LSU researchers at Turtle Bay also captured video of Saturday’s release, showing crude oil gushing from a pipe on the platform into the open waters of Barataria Bay.
“Initial estimates indicate the spill volume was approximately 10 to 15 barrels, or 420 to 610 gallons of mixed crude oil,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The source well has been secured and Extex has hired two contractors to respond to the spill. AMPOL is responsible for equipment and personnel, and Forefront is acting as an emergency management consultant, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Graves said. statement.
“The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the accident and is overseeing cleanup efforts,” Graves said. A “unified command center” including platform owner Extex, the Louisiana Office of the Oil Spill Controller, the state Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and NOAA was established to help oversee the cleanup.
As of Monday morning, a 2,500-foot-tall containment boom, two boom trailers, seven pickup trucks loaded with equipment, three response vessels, two skimming vessels and four mud boats were assigned to the cleanup.
The sheen of oil reflected in the water of Barataria Bay near Entex’s operating platform. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that up to 15 barrels of crude oil may have been released from the platform on Saturday, October 21, 2023. (Photo from video taken by Cassandra Glaspie, assistant professor in the Louisiana Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences)
DEQ officials visited the site by boat Sunday and plan to tour the site again Tuesday, agency spokesman Gregory Langley said.
Officials with Houston, Texas-based Extex Inc. did not respond to requests for information about the spill or five other small oil spills reported to the Coast Guard National Response Center earlier this year. Ta. Other incidents involved other platforms in Terrebonne Bay.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources, which oversees drilling permits in Louisiana waters, said the incident was also being investigated.
