UPDATE 12/23: The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reports that, as of December 21, 4,830 gallons of slop oil had been recovered in the Hilcorp Trading Bay Slop Oil release reported recently. Response personnel continue to recover oil from the containment area with a vac truck. Hilcorp and Chosen Construction continue to work to remove snow and ice and prepare the site for excavation of impacted soils and to inspect the ruptured line. Department of Environmental Conservation personnel conducted a site visit on Friday, December 18. Passive wildlife/bird deterrent equipment was deployed around the spill site. The oil has not migrated off the facility pad.
Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response personnel are being demobilized. Hilcorp’s contractor, Chosen Construction, has installed heaters to thaw certain areas within the containment area. Once the collection of oil with a vac truck is complete, personnel will work on small sections to scrape up contaminated soil. Excavation of the compromised line is anticipated to begin soon to uncover the pipeline point of failure.
UPDATE 12/17 4:15 p.m. – Currently Hilcorp and Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response, Inc. (CISPRI) response personnel on site who are continuing to recover oil from the containment area. As of 6:00, a total of 714 gallons of slop oil had been recovered. Response personnel continue to recover oil from the containment area. The oil has not migrated off of the facility pad.
No reported impacts to wildlife or sensitive areas at this time. Passive bird deterrents have been delivered to the site and will be installed at the impacted area.
Additional response personnel are anticipated to arrive on Sunday. USCG personnel conducted a site visit to the facility today.
ORIGINAL STORY – 190 barrels of slop oil is being cleaned up on the western side of Cook Inlet at the Hilcorp Trading Bay Production Facility, approximately 20 miles northwest of Kenai.
The release was discovered during a transfer of slop oil from Tank 4 to the slop oil tank. The operator noticed the TK-9500 tank level wasn’t increasing proportionately to the decrease in the Tank 4 level.
Jade Gamble, Cook Inlet and Kodiak Unit Manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said that the operator observed oil under and around the edges of the secondary containment liner. “The oil was not showing up in the tank that it was going to. So they went out to do a visual inspection and found that one of the pipes that was transferring had ruptured. The oil was coming up underneath the containment liner. So that oil has leaked underneath that containment liner. Right now, the weather is working for us and the conditions out there are keeping the spread of this spill minimized.”
Gamble says there’s no reported impacts to wildlife at this time, “This location is in the middle of the facility, which even in the summertime, they don’t get a lot of wildlife coming into that area. They don’t see a whole lot in the middle of that facility because it is loud, they are working. The other thing that we have going for us is that the liner that is there is actually going over the oil. We have it so that birds can’t land in it. It’s very protected from wildlife right now.”
Hilcorp and Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response, Inc. (CISPRI) personnel assisted the nine operators that were on site yesterday.
Initial recovery will be conducted by cutting the liner at the low spots to enable suctioning out product above and below the liner. Response actions, sampling, and waste disposal will be coordinated with Hilcorp, ADEC and United States Coast Guard.
