GoM oil spill estimates rise

An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, from the Delta House floating production facility, located about 40 miles south of Venice, La., last week may be the largest in the U.S. since the 2010 blowout of BP’s Macondo well that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig. The Delta House facility released between 7,950 and 9,350 barrels of oil from Oct. 11-12, according to its operator, LLOG Exploration Co, making it the largest spill in more than seven years, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. But it's only a fraction of the millions of barrels ejected in the BP 2010 incident. The LLOG spill was triggered by a fracture in a flow-line jumper, according to Rick Fowler, the company’s VP for deep-water projects. (Source: Maritime Herald 10/17/17) Coast Guard UPDATE 10/18/17: LLOG revised the estimated volume of unaccounted-for oil to the CG and BSEE after additional data became available. The new calculations indicate that the total volume of oil discharged may be as much as 672,000 gallons rather than the 392,700 gallons initially reported.