Crack in pipeline may have delayed spill detection
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Video of the ruptured pipeline that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil off Southern California shows a thin crack along the top of the pipe that could indicate a slow leak that initially was difficult to detect, experts said Thursday.
The 13-inch-long narrow gash could explain why signs of an oil slick were seen Friday night but the spill eluded detection by the pipeline operator until Saturday morning, they said.
“My experience suggests this would be a darned hard leak to remotely determine quickly,” said Richard Kuprewicz, a private pipeline accident investigator and consultant. “An opening of this type, on a 17-milelong underwater pipe is very hard to spot by remote indications. These cracktype releases are lower rate and can go for quite a while.”
When pipes experience a catastrophic failure, the breach typically is much bigger, what’s referred to in the industry as a “fish mouth” rupture because it gapes wide like the mouth of a fish, he said.
Amplify Energy, a Houston-based company that owns and operates three offshore oil platforms and the pipeline south of Los Angeles, said it didn’t know there had been a spill until its workers detected an oil sheen on the water Saturday at 8:09 a.m.
The cause of the spill is under investigation by numerous agencies as the cleanup continues along miles of shoreline on the Orange County coast south of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Coast Guard on Thursday slightly revised spill estimates to at least about 25,000 gallons and no more than 132,000 gallons.
The Coast Guard on Thursday said it is investigating the incident with other agencies as a “major marine casualty” due to the potential involvement of a vessel and damages exceeding $500,000. It said they will determine if criminal charges, civil penalties or new laws or regulations are needed.
Investigators are looking into whether a ship waiting to offload its cargo snagged and bent the pipeline with its anchor.
Coast Guard investigators boarded the massive German-flagged container ship Rotterdam Express on Wednesday to determine if it was involved in the spill. The Rotterdam was the ship anchored closest to the pipeline last week.
Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping company that operates the vessel, confirmed Thursday that investigators boarded the ship while it was docked at the Port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard interviewed the captain and crew and was provided access to the logbook showing the ship’s locations, according to Nils Haupt, a spokesman at Hapag-Lloyd’s headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.
Afterward, the Coast Guard called the company to say the Rotterdam no longer was under scrutiny for the spill, Mr. Haupt said. The ship was cleared to depart Oakland was headed to Mexico.
The leak occurred about 5 miles offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters), investigators said. A 4,000-foot section of the pipeline was dislodged 105 feet, bent back like the string on a bow, Amplify’s CEO Martyn Willsher has said.
Questions remain about when the oil company knew it had a problem and delays in reporting the spill.