An oil spill from a subsea structure southeast of Venice, Louisiana, could be the worst in the US Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to Bloomberg.
That emerged on Monday as a Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) panel was initiated to look into the spill, which occurred at the Delta House floating production facility on Friday.
Located 40 miles from Venice, in water depths of 4,463 feet the Delta House spill is estimated to be between 7,950 and 9,350 barrels of oil, which was released by a fracture in a flowline jumper.
LLOG Exploration Offshore is operating the Delta House development. The company has offices in Covington, Louisiana and Houston, Texas.
BSEE is a federal agency which regulates offshore energy and mineral extraction. It comes under the Department of the Interior.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster happened in April 2010 at the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, when a rig explosion killed 11 people and the subsequent spill from an uncapped well lasted for 87 days.
It is the worst marine oil spill ever and is estimated to have amounted to 4.9 million barrels.
