Investigation underway for worst California oil spill in 27 years
Insurance is expected to cover the costs of the incident that poured about 3,000 barrels of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean.
(Bloomberg) — The owner of a pipeline at the heart of California’s worst oil spill in almost 30 years is investigating the disaster site with a remotely controlled device and local authorities warned the cleanup may take weeks.
Amplify Energy Corp. is getting close to “a source and a cause” of the incident, which may have been caused by a ship’s anchor, Chief Executive Officer Martyn Willsher said at a press conference on Monday, Oct. 4.
The spill that began on Saturday, Oct. 2, dumped about 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean near the seaside community of Huntington Beach, which hosted the U.S. Open of Surfing last week. That’s the Golden State’s largest such disaster since a 1994 earthquake split open a pipeline and poured about 4,500 barrels into the sea, according to a database compiled by the nonprofit Public Media Group of Southern California.
The spill comes at a time when regulatory skepticism of the oil industry’s environmental practices already was sky-high. Recently, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission voted to block an Exxon Mobil Corp. proposal to transport crude by tanker truck and restart three offshore platforms in the area.
The disaster should embolden Congressional Democrats to pass legislation that would protect places like Southern California from such incidents, said Diane Hoskins, a campaign director at ocean-conservation group Oceana.
“All available actions are being taken to ensure the safety of the public and response personnel, to control the source and recover spilled materials to maximize the protection of environmentally sensitive areas and minimize impact to maritime commerce,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during a media briefing.
Recovery efforts
Psaki estimated that 3,150 gallons of oil had been recovered from the ocean so far. That’s equivalent to about 2.5% of the spill.
A wide swath of beach and ocean remained closed and more than 2,000 feet of floating barriers have been deployed to help contain the spilled crude, Huntington Beach city leaders said in a statement.
Willsher said the company has sufficient insurance and other resources to handle the cost of the incident.
In June, the company’s loan under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program was forgiven in full. At the end of that month, Amplify had net debt of about $216 million.
— With assistance from Jennifer Epstein.
Related:
- Insurers can afford to drop oil and gas — but many won’t
- BP loses bid to avoid paying $15M to Walmart over oil spill losses
- Deepwater Horizon defendants drown in legal fees
Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.