WASHINGTON –
Divers at the site of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida have determined that the possible source of the leak is a broken 30-centimeter (one-foot) diameter pipe that is broken and it was displaced from a trench in the bottom of the sea.
Talos Energy, the Houston-based company that is paying for the cleanup, said in a statement that the damaged pipe does not belong to it.
The firm said it works with the Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the affected pipeline.
Two additional 10-centimeter (four-inch) diameter pipes that were also identified in the area are open and apparently abandoned.
The company did not say whether there was an oil leak from the two smaller pipelines, but satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press on Saturday appeared to show at least three oil slicks in the same area, the largest of which spanned more than 19. kilometers (11.8 miles) east along the Gulf Coast.
The AP was the first to report that aerial photographs showed a brown and black oil slick stretching several kilometers out to sea about 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
Talos noted that the volume of oil appearing on the surface had dropped considerably in the past 48 hours and no more heavy black crude had been seen in the past day.