Oil Slicks off Mumbai, India

This morning we saw a brief news report noting that Indian authorities reported a "small" oil spill from an offshore pipeline off the coast of Mumbai.  This pipe carries oil ashore from one of India's largest producing oil fields, the Mumbai (Bombay) High field.  It's not the first time this pipeline has had problems. 

This MODIS/Terra satellite image taken on October 8, 2013 clearly shows oil slicks in the Arabian Sea scattered throughout a 66-mile-long northwest-trending belt ranging about 50 to 100 miles offshore.  We don't know for sure if these slicks are related to the pipeline spill.  We've seen smaller slicks in the area in the  past, from other causes.  But these slicks seem to be generally in the right area to correspond to this recent pipeline problem, and their alignment is compatible with the wind blowing from the northwest.  If anyone can provide an accurate latitude/longitude coordinate for the exact location of the pipeline failure, that would be very helpful.  [READ MORE...]

MODIS/Terra satellite image taken October 8, 2013, showing apparent oil slicks in the Arabian Sea off the west coast of India near Mumbai. Image courtesy NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team.  Analysis by SkyTruth.

[[Location:19.214057,71.671054]]

Enbridge Pipeline Spill in Minnesota

[DeSmogBlog -April 24, 2013]

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/04/24/another-pipeline-leak-enbridge-alberta-clipper-line-67-leaking-tar-sands-bitumen

UPDATES COMING PENDING FURTHER INFORMATION. Enbridge's Line 2 **Line 67 tar sands** pipeline has leaked an estimated 600 gallons of crude oil at its pump station near Viking, Minnesota. Line 2 was built in 1956 and has a history of spills. Regulators ordered Enbridge to reduce its Line 2 operating pressure in October 2010 following the company's Kalamazoo River tar sands spill. 

The Enbridge Viking pump station also receives oil from the Alberta Clipper (aka Line 67 pipeline) that carries heavy crude oil and tar sands bitumen from the Alberta tar sands region south from Hardisty to Superior, Wisconsin and refineries in the midwestern United States.  According to a link provided by Enbridge subsequent to this story's original posting, Line 2 begins in Edmonton and carries petroleum products, including crude oil, from Edmonton to Superior. Both lines pass through the Viking pump station.  

The U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center website reports the details of theincident, which happened last night:  

"1044848","1044848","1044848","INCIDENT","23-APR-2013 17:09","THE CALLER REPORTED THAT A LEAK ON A PRESSURE TRANSMITTER RESULTED IN A RELEASE OF CRUDE OIL.","FIXED","EQUIPMENT FAILURE","23-APR-2013 15:45","18060 203TH ST NW","MN","VIKING","MARSHALL","ENBRIDGE ENERGY","SOIL","OIL: CRUDE"

DeSmog was alerted by the Indigenous Environmental Network, which is en route to the spill site to gather more information. Stay tuned for updates to this post below.
 
**This story originally reported that Enbridge Line 67 tar sands pipeline suffered the leak, but Enbridge subsequently confirmed the spill was on Line 2. DeSmog regrets the error.**

Enbridge was warned earlier this month by the National Energy Board that the company "is not abiding by federal safety standards at 117 pumping stations along its extensive crude oil network in Canada, putting the safety of the public at risk."

The Line 2 leak has stopped and Enbridge is working on cleanup operations now. The spill does not appear to have reached water. For more details, visit http://enbridgeus.com/Viking/.

Similar to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline battle, Enbridge is currently seeking a Presidential Permit from President Barack Obama to expand the capacity of the Alberta Clipper Line 67 where it crosses the international border. The Alberta Clipper pipeline currently transports approximately 450,000 bpd of crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin to the midwestern U.S.

The Calgary Herald reported in June 2011 about Line 2 (emphasis added):

"Enbridge's Line 6 pipeline, linking Griffith, Ind. to Sarnia, Ont., was shut down temporarily by American regulators last July following a rupture and spillage of more than 3 million litres of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich. Three months later, the National Energy Board, which was monitoring the U.S. investigation,quietly ordered a 20 per cent pressure reduction on Enbridge's Line 2 Canadian pipeline, which links Edmonton to Superior, Wis., along sections that contained pre-1970s flash-welded pipe."

DeSmog has confirmed at least two previous spills on Line 2, one in Minnesota in2004 that spilled over 1,000 barrels and another in North Dakota in 2010 that spilled over 3,000 barrels.

Reuters reported in 2011 (emphasis added): 

"Canadian regulators ordered Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) to cut pressure on its 440,000 barrel per day Line 2 last October after raising concerns that the company might not be able to detect cracks in the oil pipeline. The National Energy Board's order remains in effect. It restricts the pipeline, which runs from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin, to operating at 80 percent of normal pressure, according to documents provided by the regulator. The board said it was concerned that Enbridge might not be able to consistently identify cracks in pipes laid before the 1970s using flash-welding techniques."

See Official NRC Reports here:

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/3ab6b2da-44a0-3bbc-906b-d7ed4648 

[[Location:48.215387, -96.404579]]

Where are the other 650 Barrels of Oil? Shell Reports Pipeline Leak of 700 bbl of crude oil...

On April 4th, Shell reported to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center (NRC) that 700 bbl of crude oil (29,400 gallons) had spilled from a pipeline. However, official Shell statements say that only 50-60 barrels had spilled into Bayou Vince. Where did the other 650 barrels go? Please share and let us know if you have further information on this incident.

[From Fox Business News] An estimated 50 barrels of oil spilled from a pipeline operated by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RSDA.LN, RDSA) into a waterway outside Houston, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Shell clean-up crews were working to clear the crude out of Vince Bayou, a waterway that connects to the Houston Ship Channel, which leads into the Gulf of Mexico, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Steven Lehman. The spill was contained but the total amount of oil was still being verified, Officer Lehman said.

"That's a very early estimate--things can change," Officer Lehman said.

On April 3, about 700 barrels were found to have leaked from the West Colombia pipeline because of an unknown cause, with up to 60 of those barrels emerging in the bayou, Shell spokeswoman Kim Windon said. The pipeline had been shut down and isolated on March 29 after alarms alerted the company that oil may have leaked from the line.

Write to Ben Lefebvre at ben.lefebvre@dowjones.com

Copyright © 2013 Dow Jones Newswires

http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/04/04/shell-pipeline-spills-oil-into-houston-area-bayou-coast-guard929745/

[[Location:29.1180555555556, -95.3675]]

Approx. 10,000 barrels of Heavy Crude Spilled in Mayflower, AR

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-exxon-pipeline-spill-idUSBRE92U00220130331

March 31, 2013 - [Reuters]: 

Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that spewed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.

Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Sunday that crews had yet to excavate the area around the pipeline breach, a needed step before the company can estimate how long repairs will take and when the line might restart.

"I can't speculate on when it will happen," Jeffers said. "Excavation is necessary as part of an investigation to determine the cause of the incident."

Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes.

Exxon also had no specific estimate of how much crude oil had spilled, but the company said 12,000 barrels of oil and water had been recovered - up from 4,500 barrels on Saturday. The company did not say how much of the total was oil and how much was water.

Three NRC reports have been recorded in the Alerts System:

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/375e75f8-146f-398e-b6cd-d1d83987

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/5e0b1893-b0d9-3c30-9329-6aa98ef2

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/97940b9e-982c-3ed7-8130-fa04eba3

[[Location:34.964146, -92.428461]]

Gas Pipeline Explosion and Fire - Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

SkyTruth Alerts gave us a heads up that there was an explosion and fire around noon yesterday in the marshes of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.  One caller to the National Response Center noted flames shooting 150' into the air; another caller, perhaps a bit more excited, claimed 800'.  At about the same time, a caller from Texas Gas Transmission Co. detected a huge drop in pressure in one of their gas pipelines, while noting a fireball in the marsh in the vicinity of the pipeline.  The fire was burning so hot that it shows up as a fuzzy red spot in this low-resolution MODIS/Terra band 7-2-1 satellite image, taken yesterday at 1pm local time:

MODIS/Terra 721 satellite image, April 9, 2012 showing fire from inferred gas pipeline rupture in Louisiana. Orange dots are offshore oil and gas platforms in federal waters; orange lines are some of the seafloor oil and gas pipelines.

[READ MORE...]

[[Location: 29.23301,-91.035783]]