Exxon Mobil Wednesday reaffirmed its original estimate that the eruption tens of thousands of liters of oil pipeline spilled in the Yellowstone River in Montana.
The replay came in response to a federal agency said the company took two times longer than initially claimed close the tube. The Department of Transportation reported that it took 56 minutes for Exxon completely shut down the pipeline burst, which was longer than 30 minutes earlier, the company stated on Tuesday.
But Gary Pruessing, President of Exxon Mobil Pipeline said the proper time required to close the tube does not affect the volume of oil spewed from the company predicted in that river.
“Our best technical analysis, our 750 [drum] song,” Pruessing said about the amount of oil leaked, but he added that it was possible that the pipe as much as a thousand barrels released.
The Department of Transportation directed the Exxon pipelines buried deep under the riverbed, which had only been five to eight feet underground when a 12-inch crude oil pipe failed and spewed into the river on Saturday.
Pruessing reiterated Wednesday that Exxon believed burying the lines five to eight meters’ utility even in the right way to do it.
The DOT said it would not allow the pipeline from the Exxon work to resume from Silver Tip, Mont. to Billings, Mont. until the company was re-burial of the pipeline and had submitted a restart plan. Exxon said that service restoration was not the main focus at this time.
“The emphasis is on achieving the spill,” Pruessing said.
“It is our responsibility to make sure pipelines are safe supply energy to American families and businesses, and if companies do not live in our safety, we will take action,” DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “The safety of pipelines is a priority of our nation and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.”
The government reported that Yellowstone River downstream oil deposits traveled about 240 miles, which Pruessing said Exxon had not himself confirmed. Exxon initially said the leak would be a 10-mile stretch of the river influence, but acknowledged the flaw could influence spread beyond the original estimates.
Pruessing said the reason Exxon and other oil companies do not use pipeline valves, such as gas companies do, because the mass and weight of the fast moving fluid can damage the cables when it came to a sudden stop.
Exxon became notorious in 1989 for the Exxon Valdez oil tanker blunder that about 11 million liters of oil released into Prince William Sound, Alaska. It affects approximately 1,300 miles of shoreline and 11,000 square miles of water.
source:thestreet
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