After extensive testing, a massive Taiwanese supertanker re-fitted for skimming oil in open water was deemed “not ideally suited” for cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, US officials said on Friday.
“While its stature is impressive, A Whale is not ideally suited to the needs of this response,” Federal On-Scene Coordinator Admiral Paul Zukunft said.
The supertanker sailed to the US from Portugal last month after the joint cleanup effort decided to expand its fleet of oil skimmers to include megasized ships such as the Helix Producer, as the underwater oil leak continued to spew uncontrolled.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
The A Whale has cuts in its sides to ingest oily water and then separate the two liquids, storing the oil and expelling the ocean water. It was rated to suck up as many as 21 million gallons (79.5 million liters) of oily water a day.
However, after an extended trial period began on July 2, during which the supertanker was put through its paces in open Gulf water, Zukunft announced it would not be used in the cleanup operation.
A report by a multiagency team under the supervision of the US Coast Guard said “the amount of oil recovered was negligible, and limited oil beyond a sheen was found in the cargo tanks” of the A Whale.
Therefore, the 340m A Whale “will not be deployed as a part of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response,” the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center said in a statement.
In a 24-hour testing period, it said, the 590 smaller and more agile skimmers removed more than 25,551 barrels of oil and recovered 12,800 barrels of oil at the source.
The team said that because the BP oil spill “consists of relatively smaller patches and numerous ribbons spread very thinly across a great distance, the mission has required the deployment of smaller skimmers with the agility needed to maneuver and pursue oil in both crowded and open waters.”
The joint information center said that as of Friday there were 593 skimmers in operation in the Gulf, five times as many as early last month. Overall, more than 6,800 vessels were assisting in the containment and cleanup efforts, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels.
“Nearly 33 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered and 387 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing an additional 11 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife,” the report said.
The worst oil spill in US history and possibly of all time began with the April 22 sinking of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig, two days after it exploded killing 11 workers.
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