Eagle Otome Incident: Tanker Collision Causes Oil Spill in Port Arthur, Texas

By Angel Gonzalez and Naureen Malik
of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

HOUSTON (Dow Jones) — A collision between an oil tanker bound for Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) Beaumont refinery and an outbound vessel towing barges resulted in a major crude oil spill in the port of Port Arthur, Texas on Saturday.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the towing vessel and the two barges it was pushing tore a hole on the side of the 807-foot tanker Eagle Otome at about 9:30 a.m. CST, spilling an estimated 450,000 gallons of crude oil, or about 11,000 barrels. The Sabine Neches Waterway is closed to all vessel traffic along Port Arthur’s river front, the Coast Guard said in a press release.

• KEEP READING »
• NOAA Office of Response: T/V Eagle Otome-Barge Collision (photos and map) »
• news video report »
• UPDATE: Washington Post / January 24, 2010; 11:10 AM: Coast Guard: Oil spill in Texas waterway Contained »

You may find comments on this collision by professional mariners on gCaptain forum post: Port Arthur -Tanker Eagle Otone holed by barge.