Oil spill near Fourchon contained

The U.S. Coast Guard said most of the oil that spilled from a rig northwest of Port Fourchon in Lake Raccourci last Tuesday dispersed by itself, although pollution – response crews deployed around 10,000 feet of containment booms.

“There was not much to clean up,” said Paul Steiner, public affairs officer with the Coast Guard in Houma.

A crack in a wellhead operated by Hilcorp Energy spilled about 2,000 gallons of oil, creating a slick roughly 300 yards by four miles in area.

The discharge began in the morning and stopped on its own around 9 p.m. the same day.

Steiner said a Coast Guard officer out of Morgan City spotted the slick during a daily rig inspection flight.

“By the time we got out there, most of it was dispersed,” he said.

A cap was placed on the wellhead, Steiner said. No more discharges have occurred.