TEXAS CITY, Texas (Reuters) — The closure
of major Texas shipping channels that deliver crude to more than a tenth
of the nation's refining capacity was set to run into a third day and
could continue through the week as crews were still working on Sunday
night to clean up after an oil spill.
The Houston Ship Channel, which allows oil barges and cargo ships
to sail from the Gulf Coast to refiners and terminals further
inland, was shut on Saturday following a collision between a Kirby
Inland Marine oil barge and a cargo ship, spilling some 4,000
barrels, or 168,000 gallons (636,000 liters), of residual fuel oil.
A warning to mariners issued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday said
portions of the Houston Ship Channel and its offshoots to Texas City
and Galveston, Texas, along with a portion of the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway could be shut through Saturday March 29 or longer depending
on the requirements of the cleanup. Kirby Inland Marine is operated
by Kirby Corp.
There were signs of progress on Sunday. Coast Guard Capt. Brian
Penoyer said cleanup crews have pumped all remaining fuel oil from
the barge, which is partially sunken near the entrance to the
channel. The barge has been refloated and moved to a different
position near the site of the collision in the channel.
The channel will remain shut "until clean water is assured," Penoyer
told reporters at a news conference in Texas City.
A local official said the channel was expected to be shut well into
Monday. The official asked not to be identified as the information
had not yet been made public.
The outage has yet to impact operations at Exxon Mobil Corp.'s
560,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Baytown, Texas, the
nation's second-largest, company spokesman Nicolas Scinta said.
Representatives for seven other refineries in Houston and Texas
City, Texas, did not reply to requests for information about
possible reductions in production.
As of Sunday evening, 40 ships were waiting to depart the port of
Houston and 35 were waiting to enter. Another seven ships were
waiting to leave Texas City; five were waiting to sail to that
refining hub.
CRUISING TO PORT
Late on Sunday, Carnival Corp.'s cruise liner Carnival Magic docked
at the port of Galveston with special permission from the Coast
Guard. Carnival's ship Carnival Triumph will be allowed to dock on
Monday morning.
Both Carnival Magic and Carnival Triumph are scheduled to depart
Galveston on Monday.
A Kirby-operated barge carrying fuel oil collided with a ship
carrying rice at nearly the same location on March 14. In that
accident, the cargo ship was damaged, but no fuel oil was spilled.
The Ship Channel is a 55-foot (17-meter) deep pathway for barges and
deep-draft ships cut into the floor of Galveston Bay, which averages
20 feet in depth.
The spill is far smaller than that by the Exxon
Valdez tanker, which struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska,
in 1989. A total of 11 million gallons of heavy black crude oil were
estimated to have been released by the Exxon Valdez.
In contrast, only one tank on the barge was ripped open by the
collision with the cargo ship in the Houston Channel on Saturday,
releasing an estimated 168,000 gallons.
Wildlife Response Services, a Texas-based wildlife rehabilitation
service, is helping affected birds and marine life.
Fewer than 10 birds covered with oiled have been sighted and brought
in for recovery, said the Coast Guard.
As of Sunday evening, 24 vessels are skimming from the waterway, the
Coast Guard said. More than 69,000 feet of floating barriers have
been deployed to contain the spill. Another 141,000 feet of barriers
are on standby for use if needed.
(Reporting by Terry Wade in Texas City, Erwin Seba in Houston, Kevin
Murphy in Kansas City, Missouri, Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and
Chris Michaud in New York; editing by Edith Honan, Cynthia Osterman,
Bernard Orr, Jan Paschal and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
