WASHINGTON (AP) — Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have identified the source as one-foot diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and sheared in half by Hurricane Ida.
Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the busted pipeline does not belong to them.
The company said it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the ruptured pipeline.
The Associated Press first reported Wednesday that aerial photos showed a miles-long brown and black oil slick spreading about 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
Talos said the rate of oil spewing from the undersea pipe had slowed dramatically in the last 48 hours and no new heavy black crude had been seen in the last day. Two 95-foot response vessels remain on location at the spill attempting to contain and recover oil from the water’s surface.
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