07 March 2014, News Wires – A construction crew working near Shell’s Ho-Ho pipeline “accidentally pierced” a section on Thursday afternoon, resulting in an oil spill, the Anglo-Dutch supermajor said.
About 364 barrels of oil spilled into an open pasture near the intersection of Highway 136 and Interstate 366 in Port Neches, Texas. The company said it “immediately shut down and isolated the line following the incident”.
Emergency crews were deployed to the scene and are using absorbent booms to contain the oil, Shell said. The scale of environmental damage was not immediately known.
“A release of any amount of oil is something Shell takes very seriously,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with federal, state, and local authorities as we move forward in our response efforts.”
Shell did not say when the pipeline would be back in operation.
The pipeline system, previously known as the Houma-to-Houston line, includes a 360,000-barrels-per-day pipeline that now runs from Port Neches and terminates in Houma, Louisiana.
Last year, Shell completed a reversal of the pipeline’s flows. It now carries oil from the Texas energy capital to Houma in order to give Gulf Coast refiners better access to Eagle Ford and Bakken crude production.
Shell has reportedly been looking to offload a stake in the pipeline worth as much as $1 billion.
– Upstream