Industry and government last week were scrambling to contain and clean up the second major tanker related oil spill off Galveston, Tex., in as many months.
The July 28 collision of the Greek flag tanker Shinoussa and two of three Apex Towing Co. barges in Galveston Bay ruptured the two double hulled barges, spilling about 12,500 bbl of catalytic cracking feedstock. One of the barges was partially submerged and apparently still leaking early Aug. 2. The double hulled tanker was damaged, but did not spill its cargo of jet fuel.
Apex, St. Louis, hired O'Brien Oil Pollution Services Inc. (OOPS), Gretna, La., to coordinate the oil spill response, which was under way within about 5 hr of the accident. Phibro Energy Inc., Greenwich, Conn., confirmed it owned the cargo that spilled, but disclosed no other details.
At presstime, containment boom had been deployed to protect sensitive estuaries and marshes in the Galveston Bay area. There were early reports of oil hitting beaches in the area and oiled, dead birds found on Pelican Island.
SHIP CHANNEL SHUT DOWN
The accident resulted in the shutdown of the Houston Ship Channel for at least several days, but at presstime last week it was not clear how long the channel would be shut down or what effect the shutdown would have on the oil industry.
The Houston Ship Channel remained closed to larger vessels as of early Aug. 1. At presstime last week, more than 30 vessels were waiting to leave the bay via the channel and 40 vessels were waiting to enter the channel from the Gulf of Mexico. Channel authorities were allowing some smaller barges to be towed out through the channel, but large vessels were not allowed into the channel to avoid turbulence that might interfere with efforts to refloat the remaining barge. No vessels were allowed to enter the channel from the gulf.
The collision occurred apparently as an inbound Liberian tanker attempted to pass the Shinoussa Shipping Corp. vessel, and the outbound tanker veered into the inbound lane in the path of the barges under tow, according to testimony in a U.S. Coast Guard/National Transportation Safety Board investigation that began Aug. 1 in Galveston. The cause was undetermined at presstime.
The spill came as industry continues to reel from the aftermath of the June 8 explosion and fire aboard the Norwegian tanker Mega Borg that spilled 125,000 bbl of Angolan crude off Galveston. That spill had negligible environmental effects because most of the crude burned.
CLEANUP EFFORT
Cleanup operations of the spill, which occurred near Red Fish Island in the center of Galveston Bay about 15 miles northwest of Galveston, got under way at dawn July 30.
The Coast Guard said a slick extended from the collision site 17 miles to the southeast under the U.S. Highway 45 overpass bridge to Galveston Island. As of July 30, skimmers had collected about 250 bbl of oilwater emulsion, OOPS said. Later reports pushed that estimate to about 476 bbl.
The possibility remained more oil could spill while trying to refloat the barge, OOPS said, noting that the vessel likely would be refloated and the channel cleared by the end of last week.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.