Gulf of Mexico oil spill now exceeds 672,000 gallons, Coast Guard says
24 October 2017
The US Coast Guard has nearly doubled its initial estimate of the amount of oil that seeped from a pipeline off the coast of Louisiana into the Gulf of Mexico. The leak was first announced on October 13 from a damaged pipeline operated by LLOG Exploration some 40 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.
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LLOG originally reported that between 333,900 to 392,700 gallons of oil were discharged by the broken line, located nearly 5,000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a press release from the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard has said it is coordinating with the company as well as the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to locate and respond to any oil that floats to the surface. With overhead flights and underwater vehicle inspections conducted several times a day, no recoverable oil has been detected thus far.