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U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve; West Hackberry, Louisiana

West Hackberry, Louisiana | 1978-Sep-21

Initial Notification: The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a one-billion barrel store of imported crude oil. The Hackberry facility is one of three active storage sites in the U.S. The sites consist of caverns that are leached out of subterranean salt domes and are filled with oil by barges, tankers, and pipelines. The oil contained in these domes is injected under pressure and, if any of the domes are vented, they will discharge until depressurized. At 1600 on September 21, a major oil spill and fire occurred at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in West Hackberry, Louisiana. At the time of the accident, the storage facility at Hackberry contained roughly 14.2 million barrel. At the time of the accident, the storage facility at Hackberry contained roughly 14.2 million barrels of crude oil. During the removal of a well string for maintenance, the plug used to cap the well was released, sending drilling mud and crude oil out the top of the string. The low-flash point crude oil was ignited by nearby diesel engines and the resulting fire burned for five days. The release of 72,000 barrels of oil was initially contained within a containment dike. A breach of the dike the next day spilled 32,000 barrels of the oil into nearby Black Lake. Containment of the spill in the lake was accomplished with redundant tiers of boom. After the fire was extinguished, skimmers were used to recover the contained oil. Consistent winds and good weather greatly aided the recovery efforts. Coast Guard personnel were involved in deploying boom and other recovery operations. Cleanup operations were concluded on October 11, following an on-site inspection by the Regional Response Team (RRT). USCG district 8. Keyword: U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, blowout, fire, boom, skimmer, vacuum truck, Regional Response Team, contingency plan..

Incident Details
Products of concern:Arabian Light crude oil
Total amount at risk of spill: 1,340,000 gallons
Latitude (approximate): 29° 59.00′ North
Longitude (approximate): 93° 22.00′ West