Brazil's Petrobras reports oil spill near Rio beaches

BRAZIL: January 19, 2000

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - An underwater pipeline ruptured off the Brazilian coast yesterday, spewing about 500 tonnes of oil that began washing up on beaches near the city of Rio de Janeiro, the state oil company Petrobras said.

Petrobras President Henri Philippe Reichstul called the rupture a "worrying accident," which he estimated caused an moderate oil slick of between 3 km and 5 km.

"We don't know the exact quantity, but we think it's around 500 tonnes. It's a worrying accident. Some of the beaches are covered with oil, which we saw when we flew over the area," Reichstul said.

Petrobras detected the spill early Tuesday morning, when a routine check every two hours showed a gap between the amount of oil being pumped offshore from Guanabara Bay and the amount received from one of 14 pipelines.

"This morning when we were checking, we noticed a difference and then we stopped pumping. At the exit of the pipe into the bay about 20 meters into the water, we discovered a leak," Reichstul said.

He added that production was continuing normally since "the only thing stopped was the pumping on the one line."

The Petrobras chief said the company was rallying local emergency services and a team of 200 workers would intensify beach-cleaning efforts on Wednesday.

The area damaged by the spill was localised to three small beaches on Guanabara Bay, located in a municipality adjoining Rio de Janeiro city. Reichstul estimated the clean-up would last for about 30 days.

"The immediate problem is to look after the people affected in the beach area, and obviously it will affect the local fishing industry," he said.

He also said Petrobras had not yet identified the cause of the accident, but added the results of a preliminary investigation would be released by Friday.

Last year, Petrobras mopped up 13,000 gallons (50,000 liters) of crude oil that had spilled due to a pipeline break in the northeastern coastal state of Bahia. http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=5452

-- i (c@deer.mouse), January 19, 2000

Answers

Response to Pipeline oil spill in Rio Brazil's Petrobras reports oil spill near Rio beaches

Anyone have an approximation of barrels in 500 tonnes of oil?

-- phil (phillipmorris@mindspring.com), January 19, 2000.

Response to Pipeline oil spill in Rio Brazil's Petrobras reports oil spill near Rio beaches

calculator.com - online Engineering Fuel calculators

http://www.calculator.com/pantaserv/dbget? dbname=calcindex&sts=reg&_lt=list&header=hdlist&footer=ftlist&category =Engineering&subcategory=Fuel

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 19, 2000.

Response to Pipeline oil spill in Rio Brazil's Petrobras reports oil spill near Rio beaches

Thanks dee

-- phil (phillipmorris@mindspring.com), January 19, 2000.

I think fish is off the menu, Humans keep spilling sewage and oil. Not a problem, just pay the small fine. Sheesh!!

-- && (&&@&&.&), January 19, 2000.

Response to Pipeline oil spill in Rio Brazil's Petrobras reports oil spill near Rio beaches

Tourism is a big economic factor there. This is the time of year for it.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 19, 2000.