The baffling source of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico underscores an industry begging for regulation
There’s a pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico leaking oil and no one seems to know who it belongs to.
It’s a baffling example of incompetence from regulators and industry.
The saga starts on the weekend when The Citizen Lab, a research center based at the University of Toronto, found an oil slick in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Not the government, not the regulators, not oil companies; but researchers looking at satellite date.
The images spread and it was discovered that Talos Energy had operated there. So the company sent clean-up crews via a non-profit set up by oil companies for that purpose.
At the same time, Talos said it stopped production in the area in 2017 and removed its infrastructure from the site.
“The source of the release is not proximate to any of the plugged wells, nor to the former locations of Talos subsea infrastructure,” Talos said.
In any case, the non-profit sent divers to try and figure out what was going on and using sonar they discovered a 12-inch pipeline that “appears to be bent and open ended.”
Talos continues to pay for the containment and cleanup of the oil but reiterated that it’s not the source of the leak.
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