Texas Sabine Neches Waterway Closed After Oil Spill

(Bloomberg) — The Sabine Neches Waterway, the Texas ship channel serving four refineries that process about 6.5 percent of total U.S. capacity, remained closed indefinitely after a collision between a tanker and vessel spilled about 11,000 barrels of oil, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Cleanup crews are working 24-hours daily, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm said in a telephone interview from Port Arthur, Texas. The waterway may open to vessel traffic within five days, Dow Jones reported earlier, citing Capt. J.J. Plunkett of the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard expanded the safety zone around the spill from mile marker 278 to Mesquite Point, about 100 miles east of downtown Houston, after crews on the Coast Guard Cutter Manowar could smell sulfur, Brahm said.