News24com Crews work to contain oil spill in Gulf after Idas passage

A road is partially covered in floodwater in the wake of Hurricane Ida on September 3, 2021 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Workers have deployed containment booms and skimmer devices as they attempt to contain a sizable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico discovered after Hurricane Ida roared through the area, the US Coast Guard said on Sunday.

The spill is in waters off Port Fourchon, Louisiana - near where Ida made landfall - in a region that is a major hub of the US petrochemical industry.

An oil slick now extends more than a dozen miles through the warm waters of the Gulf but has yet to reach shore, the Houston Chronicle reported.

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The Coast Guard in Louisiana said it had been informed of a spill in that area and was responding, but provided few details.

Talos Energy, a Texas firm specializing in offshore oil and gas exploration, is sending a diving team to the area Sunday to seek the source of the leak, the Coast Guard said.

In a statement, Talos Energy said: 

An ongoing investigation has not determined the cause of the release at this time; however, extensive field observations indicate that Talos assets are not the source.

Talos said it is using booms and skimmers to recover the oil.

Packing winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour, Ida roared through Louisiana last Sunday, causing catastrophic damage, according to local authorities.

Downgraded later to tropical storm status, Ida nonetheless retained rare power as it rumbled through the US Northeast, leaving dozens dead.

It was in the petroleum-rich Gulf of Mexico that, in 2010, an explosion ripped through the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, touching off the worst oil spill in history.

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