AMOCO Pipeline Break; High Island, Texas

High Island, Texas | 1991-Sep-06

Initial Notification: At approximately 2300 on September 5, 1991, a 10-inch pipeline ruptured at the AMOCO Terminal on the Intracoastal Waterway off High Island, Texas. The system was shut down as soon as the pressure change was noticed, probably no more than 15 minutes after the rupture. Approximately half of the pipeline's potential 1,000 barrels of South Texas sweet crude oil entered the Intracoastal Waterway about 1 1/2 nautical miles north-northeast of High Island. The oil flowed west to the slip where the barge that had been loading was moored. A hard boom was placed in the slip and several more were positioned across the Intracoastal Waterway to keep oil from entering East Bay. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) ordered the Intracoastal Waterway closed to all traffic and authorized placing hard boom across it in several locations. With boom in place, the mechanical cleanup began using vacuum trucks attached to a skimmer in the marsh near the rupture. USCG district 8.