THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ivan Causes Oil Pipeline Leaks in Gulf: “In one spill at a Shell Oil Co. pipeline about 30 miles east of Venice, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, crews had gathered about 101,000 gallons of water polluted with oil.” (ShellNews.net)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 7, 2004
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Hurricane Ivan punched holes in the network of oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, causing oil and gas to leak out at numerous points along the thousands of miles of pipelines.
By Wednesday, nearly two weeks after Ivan hit the Gulf Coast, the Minerals Management Service and the U.S. Coast Guard were unsure how many oil spills were caused by cracked pipelines. Most of the pipelines in the hurricane path were shut in and being inspected.
In one spill at a Shell Oil Co. pipeline about 30 miles east of Venice, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, crews had gathered about 101,000 gallons of water polluted with oil.
In the wake of the hurricane, oil production in the Gulf is more than 3 million barrels per week below average, putting U.S. crude inventories at historically tight levels and contributing to the record price of oil.
``We all know there was certainly a lot of damage caused by Ivan to the pipeline system,'' said Caryl Fagot, a spokeswoman for the Minerals Management Service. ``I do not have a good count as to how many leaks there have been.''
She added that there were no reports of major pollution in federal waters, which extend 200 miles out from the mainland.
The extent of what happened during Ivan may never be known, Fagot said. Although many pipelines were closed and emptied, companies have much leeway in what they do with their pipelines, she said.
``If there were oil spills during the storm, and they were dissipated, we will never know,'' she said.
Roland Guidry, the oil spill coordinator for Louisiana, said companies sometimes take a chance and leave oil and gas in their pipelines when a storm approaches.
Ivan also damaged and knocked over several oil rigs -- which dot parts of the Gulf south of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana -- but there were no reports of oil leaks from them. When a hurricane comes, oil wells are secured.
Environmentalists said Ivan, and the threat of busier hurricane seasons to become more common, demonstrated that oil and gas exploration in the Gulf is dirty and dangerous to the marine ecosystem.
``If this becomes the norm, more and more hurricanes, are they prepared? Have these rigs been hardened? Was it designed with a different reality in mind?'' said Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace USA.
The Minerals Management Service has asked companies to inspect oil rigs and pipelines in the path of Ivan for damage. That work, much of it done underwater, may take months to finish.
No public announcement was made about the oil spill near Venice. Officials said there is no requirement to notify the public about an oil spill.
In waters near Louisiana's coast, all near Venice, four oil spills were being worked, Guidry said. He said there was no estimate how much oil leaked out.
``That oil is floating around all over there and everyone is picking it up,'' he said.
He called the leak at the Shell pipeline a medium spill. He said it was broken in two by wave action that made the pipeline look ``like skip rope.''
He said there were reports of ``some oiled pelicans.'' He added: ``But they're not that heavily oiled.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Ivan-Oil-Spills.html