NOAA survey: Barge hit submerged platform

A survey completed Nov. 30 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that a barge that has leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico after capsizing was damaged after hitting a platform that was sunk by Hurricane Rita.

The 441-foot barge was en route from Houston to Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 10 when it struck the submerged platform about 100 miles east of Galveston.

The platform, owned by Targa Midstream Services Limited Partnership, was used to support pipeline inspection and operation. It’s usually above water but was damaged and sank during Hurricane Rita. The company found the platform and marked it with unlit buoys, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Three cargo tanks of the double-hulled tank barge were damaged and leaked oil.

Initial surveys indicate that a large portion of the 1.3 million gallons of oil in the damaged cargo tanks leaked out and settled on the ocean floor.

Responders are staging equipment to conduct sonar and video surveys of the submerged oil and are monitoring the movement, if any, of the oil on the ocean floor.

No oil has reached either the Texas or Louisiana coasts.

As of Nov. 30, work crews had off-loaded with the use of hoses and pumps more than 400,000 gallons of oil from the barge. Most of the vessel’s oil will be removed before it is salvaged.

The barge’s oil, a thick, heavy petroleum product known as number-six fuel oil, is heavier than water and sinks to the bottom of the sea.

The barge is not obstructing marine traffic, and all waterways were open.

—The Associated Press