Containment and cleanup operations are continuing near the Royal Dutch Shell Brutus platform, after the company reported a crude oil spill of about 88,200 gals. from a subsea pipeline Thursday.
Shell said the spill came from a wellhead flow line that feeds to the production platform, and was spotted by a Shell helicopter crew about 97 miles south of Timbalier Island on the Louisiana coast. Shell reported the leak was secured, and Coast Guard officials said they launched an HC-144 aircraft from Mobile, Ala., to assess the slick, described as 2 miles wide and 13 miles long.
Shell contracted with the Marine Spill Response Corporation and New Orleans-based Clean Gulf Associates for cleanup and containment operations. The area is around the Glider oil field, where four wells feed to the Brutus tension leg platform in 2,900’ of water. Shell said that all four wells had been shut down in response to the spill. The platform has been in production since 2001.
