Late night collision spills oil in Gulf - Oct 21st

**NAUTICART** · October 21st, 2009, 09:36 AM

October 21, 2009
Coast Guard responds to spill off Galveston

A unified command comprised of the Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, O'Brien's Response Management and American Eagle Tankers has been established to respond to a collision between two vessels approximately 40 miles southeast of Galveston Tuesday.
The 820-foot Liberian-flagged tank ship Krymsk is currently stable after sustaining damage to a fuel tank when the 166-foot offshore supply vessel AET Endeavor collided with the vessel. Action was taken by the crew of the Krymsk to transfer oil from the damaged fuel tank to a separate undamaged fuel tank. The tank ship's captain reports that approximately 18,000 gallons of oil was spilled; a Coast Guard team is underway to confirm this initial report.
According to the Equasis data base, the 2003-built Krymsk is managed by NOVOSHIP JSC 1, Novorossiysk, Russia
The leak has been secured and there were no injuries reported on either vessel. Both on-water and aerial assets have been deployed to conduct oil spill response operations.
The Coast Guard is currently investigating the cause of the accident.

**Mikey** · October 21st, 2009, 10:09 AM

Here's the full press release issued by the USCG about it...

Unified Command to use dispersants on oil spill

Video available

HOUSTON — A unified command comprised of the Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, O’Brien’s Response Management and AET will use dispersants Wednesday in response to an oil spill that occurred late Tuesday night.

The 820-foot Liberian-flagged tank ship Krymsk is currently stable after sustaining damage to a fuel tank when the 166-foot offshore supply vessel AET Endeavor made contact with the vessel 40 miles southeast of Galveston Tuesday night. The two vessels had just completed a planned lightering operation when the incident occurred. Action was taken by the crew of the Krymsk to transfer oil from the damaged fuel tank to a separate undamaged fuel tank. The tank ship's captain reported that approximately 18,000 gallons of fuel oil was spilled. The Coast Guard continues to investigate the cause of this marine casualty and the volume of oil spilled.

The unified command has decided to deploy a dispersant after determining that on-water recovery methods would not be possible due to the weather conditions. The dispersant will be sprayed over the oil slick by a DC3 aircraft.

Dispersants are products that are applied to the water surface in order to break up surface oil slicks, a process called dispersion, and facilitate the movement of oil particles into the water column.

"The Coast Guard plans, trains and exercises daily with our interagency partners to respond to these types of incidents," said Cmdr. Jim Elliott, commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Galveston. "Last night, we immediately joined with our fellow federal, state and industry responders to develop and implement a response plan to mitigate this oil spill's impact to our shorelines and environmentally sensitive areas," Elliott said.

The spill is not currently affecting shipping traffic.

For video of the tank ship Krymsk and the affected area please click here.

**NAUTICART** · October 21st, 2009, 10:17 AM

Dang!.. I didn't know they put the video out so quick,. Thanks

**Jeffrox** · October 21st, 2009, 11:57 AM

Lightering involves discharging cargoes from large ships into smaller vessels that are more suited to enter the destination port. VLCCs bringing crude oil from West Africa and the Middle East to the US Gulf are discharged (or lightered) into our own aframax vessels which then serve a range of local refineries. Lightering is a highly skilled activity and AET employs around 100 people and a fleet of dedicated workboats at Galveston, Texas to ensure the highest quality of service for our customers. Uniquely, AET also maintains the largest aframax fleet in the US Gulf region (around 30 vessels) to ensure the flexibility to meet our customers’ demands.
With a continuing focus on quality, we are currently investing in a new fleet of workboats and enhancing our shoreside support facilities in Galveston. At AET we are proud to command the largest share of the US Gulf lightering market and to enjoy the best on-time performance of any US Gulf operator.
(oops)

**tengineer** · October 21st, 2009, 12:35 PM

Another KP grad at the wheel ??

**10talents** · October 21st, 2009, 02:36 PM

AET is across the creek from our ferry operations.

**Mikey** · October 23rd, 2009, 09:17 AM

Authorities are making significant progress dispersing Tuesday night's oil spill 40 miles southeast of Galveston, the U.S. Coast Guard reports.
On Wednesday, crews applied about 1,000 gallons of dispersants and on Thursday overflight assessments indicated no visible remnants of oil, the Coast Guard said.

Officials will continue assessing the spill and scanning the shoreline for potential oil remnants. An offshore supply vessel and the Liberian-flagged tank ship Krymsk collided Tuesday, causing the 14,000-gallon oil spill from the Krymsk's fuel tank.

The Coast Guard continues to investigate.

Source: Chron.com