Third major oil spill in a week

Third major oil spill in a week: Shell pipeline breaks in Texas

Published time: April 05, 2013 19:24



Thousands of gallons of oil have spilled from a pipeline in Texas, the third accident of its kind in only a week.


Shell Pipeline, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, shut down their
West Columbia, Texas, pipeline last Friday after electronic
calculations conducted by the US National Response Center showed
that upwards of 700 barrels had been lost, amounting to almost
30,000 gallons of crude oil.
By Monday, Shell spokespeople said inspectors found “no evidence” of an oil leak, but days
later it was revealed that a breach did occur. Representatives with
the US Coast Guard confirmed to Dow Jones on Thursday that roughly
50 barrels of oil spilled from a pipe near Houston, Texas and
entered a waterway that connects to the Gulf of Mexico.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Steven Lehman said that Shell had
dispatched clean-up crews that were working hard to correct any
damage to Vince Bayou, a small waterway that runs for less than 20
miles from the Houston area into a shipping channel that opens into
the Gulf.
The spill was contained, said Lehman, who was hesitant to offer
an official number on how much crude was lost in the accident.
According to Shell spokeswoman Kim Windon, though, the damage could
have been quite significant. After being presented with the
estimate that said as much as 700 barrels were found to have leaked
from the pipeline due to an unknown cause, investigators determined
that 60 barrels entered the bayou.
"That's a very early
estimate--things can change," Officer Lehman told Dow
Jones.
Meanwhile, though, rescue works in Arkansas have been getting
their hands dirty responding to an emergency there. A rupture in
ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline late last week send thousands of
barrels of oil into the small town of Mayflower, around 25 miles
outside of Little Rock. Authorities evacuated more than 20 homes in
response, and by this Thursday roughly 19,000 barrels had been
recovered.
Another incident in Canada this week caused an estimated 400
barrels — or roughly 16,800 gallons — of oil to be compromised in
northern Ontario when a train derailed. Originally, Canadian
Pacific Railway Ltd said only four barrels were lost in the
accident.


Source:-
http://rt.com/usa/shell-pipeline-oil-texas-409/