OIL PIPELINE LEAKS 21,000 GALLONS; CLEANUP WORK BEGINS FOR EIGHT-SQUARE-MILE SLICK NORTHWEST OF POINT CONCEPTION.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

A leaking offshore pipeline has spewed as much as 21,000 gallons of oil northwest of Point Conception, and cleanup crews using booms and skimmers were working an eight-square-mile slick Monday that threatens a variety of marine life, officials said.

Torch Operating Company shutdown the pipeline from Platform Irene and alerted federal officials after an alarm sounded at 11 p.m. Sunday alerting crews to a drop in pressure. A ship surveying the pipeline found the break about 2 a.m., midway between the platform four miles off Point Arguello and the company's Lompoc processing facility, company and regulatory officials said.

An estimated 29,000 barrels - about 121,800 gallons - was in the pipeline. About 200 to 500 barrels - 8,400 to 21,000 gallons - was released based on streams of thick oil, and the size and depth of the slick, said company and regulatory officials.

``It did have that potential to be a major spill based on how much oil was in the pipeline,'' said Petty Officer Dennis Hall of the U.S. Coast Guard. ``Any amount of oil in the water is important. But it's less than anticipated.''

Although there were no initial reports of injuries to marine life, the state dispatched its Mobile Veterinarian Lab to the area and has alerted its Oiled Wildlife Care Network throughout the central and southern regions of California.

``There's no question there will be an impact. The question is how much and where,'' said Greg Helms, community affairs director for the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara. ``You can't clean it up. The estimate at this point with an oil spill like this is that 15 percent is all they can recover, leaving the rest to sink to the bottom of the ocean.''

The state Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response called in a contractor that had four ships deploy 7,000 feet of floating booms and use skimming devices to remove the gooey oil and water mixture. As many as a dozen fishing boats also were aiding the cleanup effort, officials said.

``This material is very thick. It will spread, but it doesn't blow out all over the place,'' said Alexia Retallack, spokeswoman for the state agency, which is an arm of the Department of Fish and Game. ``They're just doing what they can right now to corral it and control it.''

Operating under a unified command with the Coast Guard, state officials sent out a wildlife team to complete aerial surveys and assess any impacts on sea birds, seals, sea lions, dolphins and other marine life. Adding to the task is an abundance of warm-water fish that have moved into the channel with the El Nino current.

The platform stands in 245 feet of water and the 20-inch-diameter pipeline lies in a trench on the ocean floor.

Unocal built the facilities in 1987 and sold the platform and pipeline in 1994 to Torch and partners of the Houston-based company, said Art Boehm, business development manager for Nuevo Energy Company. Also based in Houston, Nuevo Energy purchased the platform and pipeline in 1996 and contracts with Torch to operate the facilities, Boehm explained.

``It appears to be a break in the pipeline. There's oil in the line right now and from what we can tell we're not losing additional oil,'' Boehm said.

A ship will use a camera or sonar, and divers will deploy in an attempt to pinpoint the break. Then the remaining oil will be pumped to the processing plant and the platform so repairs can be completed, Boehm said.

There is no estimate for the cleanup or when repairs will be completed, officials said.

While the cleanup progressed Monday, officials for the Environmental Defense Center said the spill's impact could be significant because of its size and its location near breeding grounds in the Santa Ynez River estuary for endangered species of migrating fish, such as the steelhead trout.

``If the spill makes ground, it's likely to make ground at or south of the river mouth. You would have chemical contamination of an estuary imperiling as many as half-a-dozen species,'' Helms said.

``If it doesn't hit the land, we have lots and lots of dolphins, bluefin tuna and marlins in the water right now that's caused by the El Nino,'' Helms added. ``Then there's sea lions, elephant seals, harbor seals, and all kinds of migratory species of birds, fish and marine mammals.''

Boehm defended the company's record, and said the pipeline passed a federally mandated inspection earlier this year.

``It's an unfortunate incident. To us, any oil spill is very significant,'' he said.

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Map

MAP: (color) Site of pipeline oil spill near Point Arguello and Point Conception

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