Oil spills from Hibernia platform offshore Canada
Approximately 12.000 litres of oil (75.48 barrels) is estimated to have been spilled this week from the Hibernia oil platform offshore Newfoundland.
The oil and gas safety body C-NLOPB said on the 18th July that it had been notified by the Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd (HMDC) of an oil slick observed on the water near the Hibernia platform, located 315 kilometres from St John’s, NL.
HMDC is an ExxonMobil led consortium operating the Gravity Base Structure platform.
“All workers are safe and HMDC has undertaken a controlled shut-in of production operations. To date, no affected marine life or seabirds have been seen by government or industry observers in the vicinity of the spill and its trajectory,” C-NLOPB said.
“The C-NLOPB has been in continuous contact with HMDC as well as partnering government agencies, including the National Environmental Emergencies Centre of Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) in monitoring the operator’s response and the deployment of resources related to oil recovery.
“The C-NLOPB is the lead regulatory authority as per the Atlantic Accord Implementation Acts. The response to the incident is the responsibility of HMDC,” C-NLOPB said.
According to the safety body, the initial slick size was estimated by HMDC to be 900 metres x 20 metres.
A picture taken by a CCG observer on an overflight on the 17th July showing an image of the slick was estimated to be approximately 4.6 kilometres at its widest part.
Based on visual observations from the overflight of the area conducted on the 17th July, the preliminary estimate of the amount of oil expressed on the water could be in the order of 12,000 litres.
“Satellite imagery taken as of approximately 9 am NST on the 18th July, shows two slicks: the first being 1.71 square kilometres and 3.27 kilometres in length and the second being 6.64 square kilometres and 3.78 kilometres in length.
A second surveillance flight was deployed later in the day. HMDC and the C-NLOPB are awaiting results from this and other sources of information to verify the estimated size of the release,” C-NLOPB said.
“HMDC is investigating the cause of the spill, which along with the confirmed amount, will be communicated publicly. The C-NLOPB will determine its next steps as more information becomes available. The safety of workers and environmental protection continue to be our priorities,” C-NLOPB added.
SVSS vessel deployed
In a separate statement on the 18th July, Hibernia Management and Development Company said the discharge, a mix of water and, oil occurred during routine activities related to removing water from one of the storage cells.
“A single vessel side sweep (SVSS) has been deployed from a response vessel in the area. SVSS is a boom-type system deployed over the side of a vessel to collect oil from the water.
A skimmer is then used to collect the oil from the SVSS and store it on the vessel for disposal in accordance with waste management regulations. Other response activities have included mechanical dispersion, deploying sorbent boom, deploying a tracking buoy, and surveillance flights,” HDMC said.
Source: Offshore Energy Today