The US Coast Guard is still searching for the source of an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, Reuters reports. According to officers’ estimates, the failure of the underwater pipeline resulted in the leakage of millions of liters of crude oil.
The pipeline, more than 100 kilometers long, was shut down by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Thursday morning after crude oil was spotted about 30 kilometers from the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans.
“Flight teams on Friday observed an apparent oil slick moving southwest off the coast of Louisiana,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The search is ongoing
The source of the leak is currently being searched for. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that the Coast Guard has convened a National Response Team of 15 federal entities responsible for coordinating responses to oil pollution incidents.
According to officers’ estimates, the failure resulted in the leakage of millions of liters of crude oil. However, the exact scale of the phenomenon is not yet known.
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