No new wildlife impacted by Hibernia oil spill, but production remains shut-in

No new reports of impacted wildlife have been reported from the Hibernia platform oil spill offshore Newfoundland.

In a Wednesday update, HMDC, a platform operating Exxon-led consortium, said it was continuing response efforts following the 12,000-liter oil spill in the Atlantic Ocean on July 17.

HMDC added that two vessels in the field were supporting response efforts while four third-party wildlife observers were continuing to monitor for wildlife from vessels and overflights with no new reports of impacted wildlife. To remind, Offshore Energy Today reported that five oiled birds had been spotted until July 29.

In a later update, HMDC said that a sixth oiled bird, a Storm Petrel, was discovered on the platform on the morning of July 30. The bird did not survive.

Observations from surveillance flights, satellite imagery, and the vessels over the past several days indicate concentrations of oil have decreased to the point that mechanical recovery and dispersion operations are no longer possible.

According to the consortium, other response efforts will continue as needed. These include vessel and flight surveillance, satellite images, and tracker buoys to monitor for any presence of hydrocarbons.

Demobilization of vessels continues, and production from the Hibernia platform remains shut-in while HMDC continues its investigation.

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