An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is being described as the worst since the Deepwater Horizon disaster as US producers scramble to shut in almost 5% of the region’s oil and gas production.As of Thursday, major Gulf producers such as Occidental Petroleum had turned the taps off on 62,000 barrels per day of output following an undersea pipeline rupture that leaked an undetermined 26,000 barrels into the waters off Louisiana, about 30 km off the Mississippi Delta.“We’re not saying that was the exact amount. We are not going to know the exact amount of oil that was discharged into the Gulf of Mexico until we find the source,” Coast Guard deputy commander for the New Orleans sector, Capt. Kelly Denning, told reporters at a media briefing..If confirmed, it would be the largest spill — onshore or offshore — since the Deepwater Horizon drill ship exploded in 2010 dumping 3.2 million barrels and the 11th largest in US history.Another half dozen operators won’t be allowed to resume operations the exact source of the leak is determined and appropriate repairs are made. As of Tuesday, the US Coast Guard was still using robotic craft to determine the exact location of the leak. Local reports of oiled wildlife and seabirds have been spotted in the area according to local media.The pipeline had been in service for less than a year..The Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, which killed 11 workers and resulted in more than $14 billion in fines and $61.6 billion in clean up costs, was hands down the largest man-made natural disaster in US history.The next largest, both in absolute and relative terms, was the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 that dumped 262,000 barrels of oil over 2,000 km of pristine waters in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Nearly 30 years later, pockets of uncleared oil remain.That incident had implications in this country as well, resulting in the tanker ban off the BC coast that remains in effect until this day.
