An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that soiled beaches, killed wildlife and sparked outrage from environmental groups was caused by a leaky pipeline owned by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, the company said.
A government investigation determined that an undersea pipeline near the Abkatun offshore platform was the cause of the leak, Pemex Chief Executive Victor Rodriguez said at a news briefing late last week. Three employees were fired as a result of the accident, he added.
The amount of crude that spilled into the gulf is still being determined, Mexican Science Minister Rosaura Ruiz said at the news conference. The oil facility is close to the Bay of Campeche.
The spill, which spread from southern Tabasco state to as far north as Tamaulipas state, underscores Pemex’s struggles to clean up its environmental track record after repeated disasters, explosions and accidents in recent years. Those events have compounded the company’s financial woes as it seeks to reverse slumping production and emerge from under more than $85 billion in debt.
The government began investigating the cause of the leak last month, initially suggesting that natural oil seepages, illegal dumping from tankers or faulty Pemex infrastructure could be to blame. Environmental groups contended that faulty facilities were the most likely cause of the pollution.
Environmental groups including Greenpeace and the Mexico Alliance Against Fracking have estimated that at as much as 800 tons of hydrocarbons have spilled into the gulf as a result of the accident.
Cleanup operations were carried out across protected sites, including the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Veracruz Reef System National Park and the Centla Wetlands Biosphere Reserve, according to the Marine Insight News Network.
Squires writes for Bloomberg.
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