Collision Causes Oil Spill In Port Arthur, Texas

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)–A collision between an oil tanker bound for Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) Beaumont refinery and an outbound vessel towing barges resulted in a major crude oil spill in the port of Port Arthur, Texas on Saturday.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the towing vessel and the two barges it was pushing tore a hole on the side of the 807-foot tanker Eagle Otome at about 9:30 a.m. CST, spilling an estimated 450,000 gallons of crude oil, or about 11,000 barrels. The Sabine Neches Waterway is closed to all vessel traffic along Port Arthur’s river front, the Coast Guard said in a press release.

An Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) spokesman said in an email that the incident involved vessels chartered by ExxonMobil subsidiary companies, and that the amount of oil that spilled from the Eagle Otome was “undetermined. “The vessels involved are reported to be in stable condition,” spokesman Kevin Allexon said in an email to Dow Jones Newswires.

…The Coast Guard, which has established a perimeter around the spill, said it is investigating the causes of the incident. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said that the ruptured compartment in the tanker held about 80,000 barrels of crude, and the crew was able to transfer 69,000 barrels elsewhere. “This is a big one,” said Petty Officer Third Class Richard Brahm.

No injuries reported among the crews of the vessels. Brahms said that the Port Arthur waterway was closed to traffic for the clean-up operation. Brahm couldn’t specify how long it would take for emergency crews to clean up the spill or re-open the channel, nor the number of vessels waiting to come in. He said that on an average day, 150 barges and 15 tankers pass through the waterway. “It’s definitely going to impact the economics around here,” he said.

Port Arthur, located about 90 miles east of Houston, is home to key fuel-producing facilities such as the 275,000-barrel a day Motiva refinery, jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Saudi Arabian Oil Co; Total SA’s (TOT) 174,000 barrels a day refinery, and Valero Energy Corp.’s (VLO) 310,000 barrels a day refinery.

WSJ