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Same-Day Analysis
Tanker Collision Spills Half a Million Gallons of Oil in U.S. State of Texas
Published: 1/25/2010
IHS Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | Several ExxonMobil-chartered vessels were involved in a collision last Saturday (23 January) that resulted in approximately 462,000 gallons (11,000 barrels) of crude oil spilling into the Sabine Neches Waterway (SNWW) in Texas. |
Implications | Containment and clean-up operations have already begun, and the U.S. Coast Guard says that as of yesterday, several ships had succeeded in recovering around a tenth of the spill from the SNWW's waters. While these operations continue, Port Arthur and the SNWW remain closed, but ship transit could begin again within days, rather than weeks or months. |
Outlook | The fact that the vessels in question were being chartered by supermajor ExxonMobil will do little for its already bad reputation with tankers, but judgement will have to await the outcome of investigations, which have already begun; fortunately, the spill here is relatively small and, in any event, quite contained by the SNWW itself, so the overall impact—environmental and otherwise—is expected to be limited. |
A collision between ExxonMobil-chartered vessels has resulted in approximately 462,000 gallons of crude spilling into the Sabine Neches Waterway (SNWW), Texas, not far from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM), according to several newswire reports. The 246-metre-long, 96,600-tonne Eagle Otome tanker collided this Saturday (23 January) with a barge being towed by tugboat, spilling the equivalent of 11,000 barrels of heavy sulphide crude oil into waters adjacent to Port Arthur. The incident has resulted in the closure of the SNWW, and the evacuation of a 50-block area around Port Arthur. The U.S. Coast Guard, meanwhile, has responded by deploying 13.7 km of boom to contain the spill, and some 15 ships are currently working to skim oil from the water. By yesterday, crews had succeeded in recovering around 10% of the leaked oil. A spokesperson for supermajor ExxonMobil characterised the incident as "unfortunate", and expressed concern over the spill's effect on local communities and the environment. It also said an investigation was under way to determine its cause.
At the time of the collision, the Eagle Otome was in transit to ExxonMobil's 344,500-b/d Beaumont refinery, which the company says will not be affected by the incident. While Port Arthur and the SNWW remain closed, an initial evacuation order initially implemented for safety reasons has since been lifted. It is currently unknown when the port and waterway will re-open. As for the clean-up, a Coast Guard spokesperson told news outlet CNN, "we certainly want it to be done as soon as possible, but with that said, safety is the main issue. We're not going to open the port until it's determined that vessels can pass through cleanly, safely and not cause any further damage."
Outlook and Implications
The incident is certain to add to ExxonMobil's already bad track record for oil tanker spills, but it should be noted that the confines of the SNWW should limit the spread of oil. Moreover, while the Singapore-registered Eagle Otome tanker is an Aframax-class vessel, and can carry a maximum of around 730,000 barrels of oil, it was apparently carrying just over 13,560 barrels of oil when it collided with the barge. This is certainly a large spill, but it pales in comparison to, for example, Alaska's Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989, which leaked over a quarter of a million barrels into Prince William Sound. That particular incident was an environmental catastrophe that still ranks as the country's largest oil spill, and was instrumental in prompting the United States to gradually require tankers operating in its waters to use double rather than single hulls. This policy, unfortunately, did not seem to help the Eagle Otome, which is itself a double-hulled vessel. Built in 1994, it is owned and operated by AET. It is not yet known why the vessels collided, but traffic levels in the SNWW, which sees an average of 15 tankers and ten times that many barges passing through every day, may perhaps provide an indication. This section of the U.S. Gulf Coast is home to a number of large refineries, but despite the shutdown of Port Arthur and the SNWW, no impact on overall oil supplies has as yet been reported. While the Coast Guard has not pinned down an exact timeframe for the re-opening of Port Arthur and the SNWW, vessel transit could begin again within days, rather than weeks or months. Other than Port Arthur, the SNWW also serves the ports of Beaumont and Orange, both in Texas.Most Viewed Articles
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